What do factories pollute in the air

Natural gas outputs negligible sulfur- and mercury-based pollution. Additionally, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, for every 10, homes — or the equivalent manufacturing facilities — powered with natural gas, global society stands to eliminate 1, tons of nitrogen oxide, 3, tons of nitrogen oxide and 5, tons of particulates per year that would otherwise enter the air and surrounding environment.

These abatement technologies nullify the most destructive air pollutants, like those mentioned above, and reduce the ecological footprint of manufacturing sites. Several mechanisms are available that provide this functionality, but not all of them are effective for every pollutant.

Some of the relevant technologies include:. Catalytic oxidizers : These machines use intense temperatures and chemical catalysts to render air pollutants down into their constituent compounds, which may then be harmlessly released. Regenerative thermal oxidizers RTOs : With RTOs, factories repurpose industrial waste heat to destroy pollutants within networks of heat exchangers. Rotary concentrators : Like the name suggests, rotary concentrators rotate at high speed to separate air pollution into a hydrophobic media, where an oxidizer destroys it.

Carbon dioxide is perhaps the best-known air pollutant and contributor to climate change, but there are others — including cadmium, mercury, sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. Wet scrubbers are another air pollution mitigation technology to consider, and they deliver the benefit of tackling both gaseous waste, like these, as well as particulate matter before it can enter the atmosphere or the surrounding environment.

Far too many companies rely on supply chains riddled with raw materials that have the potential to become toxic once released into the air and water. Milling and grinding processes, like those that drive paint and coating operations, release ground-level ozone , VOCs, particulates and heavy metals into the atmosphere, where they impact the health of humans and wildlife.

The Environmental Protection Agency recommends that manufacturers identify raw materials and additives containing chromium, mercury and lead, and replace them with non-hazardous biocide alternatives. Styrene is another material to watch for and eliminate from the supply chain. Atomized styrene can enter the air while fiberglass and plastics are being manufactured or sprayed in place.

Instead of risking kidney disease, chronic fatigue and other health problems, manufacturers can substitute low-styrene gels and resins or use materials that rely on ultraviolet curing instead of traditional methods. Due to all the reasons above, many species have come close to extinction and many more are likely to face a similar fate if we do not reduce the amount of damage we are doing to this planet in the future.

Global Warming As we touched on earlier, a huge portion of climate change or global warming can be attributed to our reliance on industrial activities over the years. Global Warming can lead to: Rising sea levels.

Risk of species of animals becoming extinct. An increase in tsunamis, typhoons, hurricanes, floods and other natural disasters. Melting of the ice caps Furthermore, our very existence as human beings could be under threat too, not to mention the increased risk of us catching diseases such as cholera, malaria and Lyme Disease.

Air Pollution Industrial factories have played a big part in the amount of air pollution that we as people have to endure. Water Pollution Factories are also a major contributing factor to water pollution across the globe. Our Own Health As humans that are exposed to air pollution, water pollution and soil pollution among others, we also face an increased risk of falling victim to illness and disease.

The Destruction of Wildlife Factories can also be directly blamed for destroying certain areas of nature on our beautiful planet. The quality of the combustion process is primary indicated by carbon dioxide. Emissions of CO 2 , as a result of combustion of fuels, are creating consequences on environment [ 6 ].

For the industrial combustion system carbon dioxide was also examined a major greenhouse gas [ 7 ]. For the emission of carbon dioxide from any type of combustion source a prescribed national standard was present but it is important to check that carbon dioxide emission enter into air at steep rate. Oxides of nitrogen as nitrogen dioxide NO 2 and nitric oxide NO produce from thermal power plants, vehicles, industrial process and, coal burning processes [ 8 ].

Oxides of nitrogen are produced by the reaction of free oxygen and nitrogen of air which achieved at high temperature during combustion process. Fuels, rich in sulfur contents produce sulfur dioxide SO 2 gas when used for the energy.

Bennett [ 9 ] reported sulfur dioxide lifetime is about 10 days in air. Industrial stacks emitting sulfur dioxide because fuels contain a standards higher concentration of sulfur. Generally, in Pakistan the electric power supply is not adequate and consistent for supporting employments; consequently, to overcome electric energy shortage all business sectors still extensively use their private generator Figure 1.

Presentation of energy sources based upon hydrocarbon fuels: A domestic generator; B power houses; C industrial generators; and D energy production. These generators mostly installed next to their services or along the road which is not an appropriate location. Therefore, by importing exhaust gases into the air they create many complications to the people who are traveling on the roads and the resident. Smoke opacity of industrial gas is also a parameter which has considerable potential to enhance environmental air pollution by smoke particles emission.

It was noticed that boilers operating on furnace oil have larger value of smoke than on natural gas. According to an estimate, at least different chemicals have been identified in air through sampling of various nature. A term commonly used to describe any harmful chemical or other substance that pollutes the air we breathe, thereby reducing its life-sustaining quality is called air pollutant.

In principle, air pollutants refer to any chemical substance that exceeds the concentration or characteristics identified as safe for the natural ingredients in the air both by nature or anthropogenically.

More strictly, pollutants can be defined a substance which is potentially unsafe to the well-being or health of humans, plant and animal life, or ecosystems.

Indoor smoke poses a health threat to 3. Air pollution is linked to a high incidence of respiratory diseases such as cancer, heart disease, stroke and asthma [ 12 ]. According to estimates from the American Lung Association, nearly million people are at risk due to air pollution [ 13 ].

Although these effects come from long-term exposure, air pollution can also cause acute problems such as sneezing and coughing, eye discomfort, headache, and dizziness [ 14 ]. Particles smaller than 10 microns classified as PM10 or PM2. Pollutants are commonly classified into solid, liquid, or gaseous substances that are discharged into the air from a fixed or mobile source, then transmit through air, and contribute in chemo physical transformation, and eventually return to the ground.

It is impossible to describe the full range of potential sources and actual damage caused by various sources of air pollution but few which are more vulnerable are discussed below:. Fossil fuels as coal and oil for electricity production and road transportation, add huge amount of air pollutants like carbon dioxide, nitrogen and sulfur dioxide.

Sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and fly ash are produced as main pollutants if coal is used as a fuel. Major pollutants during combustion of oil are oxides of nitrogen and sulfur dioxide, whereas coal emits particulate air pollution to the atmosphere. Similarly, important air pollutants emitted from power station are particulate matter fly ash and soot oxides of nitrogen NO 2 and NO and sulfur oxides SO 3 and SO 2 [ 16 , 17 ].

These pollutants and other closely related chemicals are primarily source for acid rain. When PM is released into the atmosphere due to traffic and industries, these PM scatter the visible part of the sunlight radiation, but the other part of the spectrum particularly inferred and far-infrared, cause the internal heating effect of the air atmosphere below the PM surface. The Sun radiation is heating our air from outside and the traffic and industries from inside. And the PM surface is like a shield or barrier, through the heat diffusion cannot penetrate bidirectional ways.

Volcanic eruption disperses an enormous amount of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere along with ash and smoke particle sometimes causes the temperature to rise up over the years.

Particles in the air, based on their chemical composition, can also have a direct impact of being separated from climate change. They either change the composition or size and may deplete the nutrients biosphere, damage crops, and forests and destroy cultural monuments such as monuments and statues. Many living and non-living sources emit carbon dioxide that contribute largely as pollutant. Carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas, among many others which traps heat into the atmosphere via infrared radiation matching vibrations and causes climate change through global warming.

Over the past years, humans have driven enough CO 2 into the atmosphere to make its levels higher than they have been for hundreds of thousands of years.

Air pollution in many cases prevents photosynthesis, which has a significant impact on the plants evolution, which has serious consequences for purifying the air we breathe. It also results to form acid rain, atmospheric precipitation in the form of rain, snow or fog, frost, which is released at the time of fossil fuels burning and converted by contact with water vapor in the atmosphere.

Industrial process emits huge amounts of organic compounds carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and chemicals into the air. A high quantity of carbon dioxide is the reasons for the greenhouse effect in the air. As the greenhouse gases absorbs infrared radiation from the surface of the planet so its presence is good for the planet. The recent climate change is due to excessive quantity of these gases as well as PM into the atmosphere [ 18 , 19 ]. Different greenhouse gases contribute differently in global warming due to their unique physical and chemical properties, molecular weight and the lifetime in the atmosphere.

A simple working method can calculate the relative contribution of the unit emissions of each gas relative to the cumulative CO 2 unit emissions over a fixed period of time [ 20 , 21 ]. Therefore, global warming potential GWP can be defined as the warming effect of any greenhouse gas relative to CO 2 over a certain period of time.

Greenhouse gas emissions from various sources have led to climate change, which has been accompanied by an increase in greenhouse gases [ 22 , 23 ]. Greenhouse gas emissions change the Climate that is a global issue having significantly negative impacts on economic growth humans, and natural resources [ 24 , 25 , 26 ]. Among all the greenhouse gases, CO 2 and CH 4 cause major global surface temperature increase [ 28 ]. These gases are emitted by natural and anthropogenically.

After carbon dioxide, methane is the second gas that contributes to global warming. Methane has larger impacts as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, with global warming potential GWP s 21—25 times higher than CO 2 [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]. Agriculture activities often release harmful chemicals like pesticides and fertilizers [ 33 ].

Organic matter gradually reduces the water and oxygen in soil during flooding of rice fields; as a result, methane is produce by anaerobic decomposition [ 34 , 35 ]. Globally methane emission is much lower than CO 2 emissions annually. Naturally it is emitted by marshland [ 39 ], termites, wildfires [ 36 ], grasslands [ 36 ], coal seams [ 40 ] and lakes [ 41 ]. Human sources of methane include public solid waste landfills coal mine paddy fields oil and gas drilling, pastures rising main sewers, wastewater treatment plants, manure management and agricultural products.