Introduction to Ambient Air Pollution

1
Introduction to Ambient Air Pollution
2
Enabling Learning Objectives

• From a list, select air pollution
  classifications IAW AR 200-1.
• From a list, select air pollution categories IAW
  AR 200-1.
• From a list, select variables to consider when
  evaluating air pollution effects IAW AR 200-1.
• From a list, select populations that are
  susceptible to air pollution IAW AR 200-1.
• From a list, select factors contributing to air
  pollution IAW AR 200-1.

3
Outline

• Definitions
• Classification of Sources
• Ambient Air Contaminants
• Categories of Sources
• Ambient Air Standards
• Variables to Consider
• Susceptible Populations and Effects
• Factors Contributing to Air Pollution

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Definition

• Ambient Air - That portion of the atmosphere,
  external to buildings, to which the general
  public has access.
• Air Pollution - Naturally occurring or man-made
  substances that when in sufficient quantities
  cause damage to the environment or adverse health
  effects in humans. These can include
• Carbon Monoxide (CO)
• Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)
• Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)
• Ozone (O3)
• Lead (Pb) and other Metals
• Particulate Matter
• Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
• Semi-volatile Organic Compounds (SVOCs)
• Herbicides and pesticides

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Classification of Air Pollution Sources

• Mobile or Stationary Sources
• Combustion or Non-combustion Sources
• Area Sources (pesticide spraying)
• Point Sources (stack)
• Volume Sources (leaking drums)
• Line Sources (automobiles)

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Categories of Air Pollution Sources

• Transportation (area)
• Fuel combustion / stationary source (point)
• Industrial process losses (point)
• Solid waste disposal, incineration (point)
• Miscellaneous (area)

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What is an Emission Source ?Stationary Sources

• POINT
• Stack or vent emissions
• Regulatory threshold
• Impact due to emission magnitude
• Example Incinerator
• FUGITIVE
• Emissions not captured or vented
• Example Aggregate pile
• Cold solvent dip tank

• AREA
• Small point source
• Below point source threshold
• Impact due to source frequency
• Example Drycleaner
• BIOGENIC
• Naturally occurring emission
• Not regulated by CAA
• Example Conifer trees

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What is an Emission Source ?Stationary Sources
at Military Bases
Boiler Plants Generators Turbines Incinerators Eng
ine Test Cells Dynamometers Fire Fighter
Trng Smoke Generators Firing Ranges OB/OD Forest/A
gri Burns Landfills
Fuel Storage Tanks Fuel Dispensing
Facilities Printing Plants Vapor
Degreasers Organic Solvent Use Surface
Coating Chemical Distillation Pesticide/Herbicide
Use Asphalt Production Plastics
Production Laboratory Hoods Surface Impoundments
Wastewater Treatment Explosives
Production Forging Operations Acid
Production Metal Plating Acid Etching Hospital
Sterilizers Quarries Sandblasting Carpentry
Shops Smelters Remedial Activities
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What is an Emission Source ?Mobile Sources at
Military Bases

• WHEELED VEHICLES
• GSA Car
• Trucks - Light Heavy Duty
• POVs
• HMMWVs
• TRACKED VEHICLES
• Tanks
• Armored Personnel Carriers
• Construction Equipment

• AIRCRAFT
• Fixed Wing Planes, Jets
• Rotary Wing Helicopters
• MARINE VESSELS
• Inboard Powered Ships
• Outboard Powered Boats

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What is an Emission Source ?Nonroad Sources at
Military Bases
Excavators Backhoes Tractors Forklifts Pavers Tren
chers Ditchers Crawlers
Mobile Cranes Air Compressors Log Skidders Motor
Graders Loaders Dozers Vacuums Snowthrowers
AGE Generators Mowers Tillers Chain
Saws Shredders Edgers Trimmers
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Emission Rate ThresholdsPotential Emission Rate

• Emissions generated at maximum design capacity
• 10 lbs VOC/hr x 24 hr/day x 365 day/yr 87,600
  lbs/yr
• May be limited by Federally enforceable
  restriction
• Feed rate (lbs/hr)
• Operating schedule (hrs/day)
• Control Equipment (specify control efficiency)
• Product substitution (solvent replacement)
• Potential rate must be evaluated for NSR, PSD,
  NSPS, CAA-90 Titles I, III V

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Emission Rate ThresholdsActual Emission Rate

• Emissions generated as a direct result of source
  operation
• Best case emission rate for emission fees
• Example
• Source emits 10 lbs VOC/hr and operates 8 hr/day,
  5 days/wk, 52 wk/yr therefore actual
  emissions are calculated
• 10 lbs VOC/hr x 8 hr/day x 260 day/yr 20,800
  lbs VOC/yr
• Potential emissions for same unit were 87,600 lbs
  VOC/yr

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AMBIENT AIR CONTAMINANTS

• Criteria Pollutants
• Carbon Monoxide (CO)
• Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)
• Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)
• Ozone (O3)
• Lead (Pb)
• Particulate Matter
• Particulate Matter Less than 10 microns (PM10)
• Particulate Matter Less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5)
• Total Suspended Particulate (TSP) - historic PM
  contaminant
• Air Toxics
• Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
• Semi-volatile Organic Compounds (SVOCs)
• Herbicides and pesticides

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CRITERIA POLLUTANTSPROPERTIES AND EFFECTS

• CO
• - Colorless, odorless, poisonous gas
• - Product of incomplete combustion of carbon in
  fuels
• - Combines with blood hemoglobin
• - Decreases oxygen delivery to bodys organs
  tissues
• Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5)
• - Dust, soot, smoke, liquid droplets
• - Described by the larger category TSP
• - Deposition in lower portion of lungs
• - Breathing and respiratory symptoms

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CRITERIA POLLUTANTSPROPERTIES AND EFFECTS

• Pb
• - Generated similarly to particulate matter
• - Operations using metal shavings, lead based
  paint
• - Affects central nervous system
• - Can result in brain damage/retardation
• NO2
• - Brownish, highly reactive gas
• - Nitric oxide combines with oxygen
• - Leads to respiratory illness, ozone formation
• - Can cause bronchitis, pneumonia

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CRITERIA POLLUTANTSPROPERTIES AND EFFECTS

• O3
• - Forms from reaction of VOCs NO2 w/ sunlight
• - Not emitted directly into the air
• - Major component of smog
• - Throat/Lung irritation, difficulty in
  breathing
• SO2
• - Sulfur trioxide sulfuric acid
• - Damage to respiratory system
• - Corrosion to structures, reduced plant growth,
• reduced visibility

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CRITERIA POLLUTANTSMAJOR SOURCES

• CO
• - Majority from mobile sources
• - Incinerators, wood-burning stoves
• - Fires (incomplete combustion of carbon fuels)
• PM10 and PM2.5
• - Fossil fuel combustion sources, construction
  activities
• - Natural windblown dust (fugitive dust, dry
  goods in bulk)
• - Factories, power plants, fires
• Pb
• - Gasoline combustion
• - Mining and production of lead products

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CRITERIA POLLUTANTSMAJOR SOURCES

• NO2
• - Found in many urban/industrial atmospheres
• - Fossil fuel combustion
• - Mobile sources
• O3
• - Photochemical reaction with sources of VOCs
  NO2
• SO2
• - Combustion of fossil fuels (oil, coal)
• - Steel mills, refineries, pulp paper mills

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SOURCES OF OTHER POLLUTANTS

• Air Toxics
• - Wide variety of industrial mobile sources
• Emergency Planning and Community Right-to- Know
  Act
• Section 302 313 lists Industrial sources
• RCRA Pollutants
• - Hazardous waste incinerators
• - Boilers/furnaces burning hazardous waste
• - Organic chemical industry
• - Tanks/surface impoundments
• - Landfills

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AMBIENT AIR STANDARDS

• Criteria Pollutants
• National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)
• Set by the EPA
• Primary Standard - Set to protect human health
• Secondary Standard - Set to protect public
  welfare
• Legally enforceable in the United States
• National network monitor ambient air criteria
  pollutants
• Air Toxics
• No federally enforceable ambient standards
• Some state have state enforceable standards
• EPA Region III Risk Based Concentrations
  guidelines
• Tech-Guides 230 and 231 to address toxics

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Ambient Air Standards

• DOD standards
• CHPPM TG-230A
• Short-term chemical exposure guidelines for
  deployed personnel
• Categorized by priority (quantity and toxicity)
• Short term ambient air parameters
• 1 hour
• 1 - 14 days

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Ambient Air Standards

• DOD standards
• CHPPM TG-230B (DRAFT)
• Long-term chemical exposure guidelines for
  deployed personnel
• Long term ambient air parameters
• 14 days to 1 year
• Daily Exposures
• Does not consider occupationally managed
  situations
• Has to be used with current ORM
• Should be used with TG 230A

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Criteria pollutant standards (NAAQS)
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Hazardous Air Pollutants

Parameter Time Target Organ
TLV
Asbestos avg-8 hr lung diseases 2
fibers/cm3 Beryllium max-8 hr lung disease,
liver, 2 ?g/m3
kidneys, spleen, lymph Mercury max-10
hr CNS, kidneys 0.01 mg/m3 Vinyl Chloride
max-8 hr lung and liver cancer 1 ppm Arsenic
carcinogenic Radionuclides car
cinogenic Benzene
leukemia Coke Oven Emissions respiratory
diseases
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Pollution Standard Index

• EPA developed
• Based on CO, NO2, SO2, O3, CO, particulate
  matter (TSP, PM10, PM2.5)
• Computed using worse-case pollutant
• Five PSI Classes
• 0 to 50 ....Good
• 50 to 100.......Moderate
• 100 to 200 ....Unhealthful
• 200 to 300....Very Unhealthful
• Above ....Hazardous
• Defines sensitive groups and countermeasures

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Variables to Consider when Evaluating Effects

• Levels/concentrations of pollutants
• Duration of exposure
• Severity and duration
• Environmental conditions

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Variables to Consider When Evaluating Effects

• - Temperature - Pressure
• - Corrosiveness - Explosivity
• - Molecular weight - Vapor pressure
• - Solubility properties - Adsorptive
• - Particle size - Reactivity
• distribution
• - Moisture, oxygen and
• heat contents

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Variables to Consider when Evaluating Effects

• Interactions among pollutants
• Synergistic -- 1T 1T 2T
• Carbon Tetrachloride Ethanol
• Additive -- 1T 1T 2T
• Organophosphate Organophosphate
• Potentiative -- 1T 1P 1T
• Carbamate Piperonyl butoxide
• Antagonistic -- 1T 1A
• Carbon Monoxide Oxygen

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Susceptible Populations (Humans)

• Young
• Aged
• Pre-existing respiratory/cardiovascular
  diseases
• Smokers
• Heavy exercisers
• Occupationally exposed personnel

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Effects on Population Groups

• Effects on Humans
• Effects on Vegetation
• Effects on Materials
• Effects on Animals

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Carbon Monoxide

• The immediate effect of CO is that it chemically
  binds with hemoglobin in the blood to form
  carboxyhemoglobin (COHb).
• Carbon monoxides affinity for hemoglobin is 200
  times greater than that of oxygen, and it tends
  to remain more tightly bound.
• Carbon monoxide is highly toxic at concentrations
  1,000 ppm, leading to death from asphyxiation
  because the body, particularly the brain, is
  deprived of sufficient O2.

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Nitrogen Dioxide

• Animal toxicological studies show that exposures
  to greater than or equal to 0.50 ppm NO2 can
  result in destruction of cilia, disruption of
  alveolar tissue, and obstruction of respiratory
  bronchioles.
• Such studies also show that NO2 may cause or
  aggravate respiratory infections.

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Sulfur Dioxide

• The principal effect of SO2 is the alteration of
  the mechanical function of the upper airway.
  This includes an increase in nasal flow
  resistance and a decrease in nasal mucus flow
  rate.
• Exposing strenuously exercising soldiers to
  relatively low levels of SO2 (0.25 and 0.50 ppm)
  can produce acute bronchial constriction on
  inhalation.
• Some of the health effects attributed to SO2 most
  likely result from its conversion to
  fine-particle sulfate aerosols such as H2SO4
  (sulfuric acid).

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Ozone

• Measurable physiological changes in humans at
  concentrations and exposures that are within the
  range of polluted ambient environments.
• Significant changes in lung function in response
  to exposures to 0.10-0.40 ppm O3 for 1-2 hr.
• Observed effects include increased respiratory
  rate, increased pulmonary resistance, decreased
  tidal volume (rise and fall) of air intake,
  changes in respiratory mechanics, and premature
  aging of the lungs.
• O3 can interfere with or inhibit the ability of
  the immune system to defend the body against
  microbial infections.

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Particulates

• Depends on its ability to penetrate respiratory
  defense mechanisms.
• Can contribute to increased respiratory illnesses
  such as bronchitis and can exacerbate the effects
  of other cardiovascular diseases.
• Particulate matter can also effect the visibility
  of soldiers in field operations.

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Factors Contributing to Air Pollution

• Population density
• Industrial activity
• Topography
• Types and concentrations of emissions

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Factors Contributing to Air Pollution

• Meteorology
• Wind direction
• Wind speed
• Precipitation and Humidity
• Solar Load
• Stability of atmosphere

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Inversion

• If air near the ground gets cooler than higher
  air
• marine air slips in
• upper air subsides
• earth cools by nighttime radiation

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Lapse Rate

• How temperature changes with height
• air rises
• pressure falls

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Lapse Rate

• Adiabatic Lapse Rate
• temperature profile with height that an air
  parcel follows as it rises and expands
• Stable
• steeper slope
• colder, denser
• resists rising and mixing
• Unstable
• less steep
• hotter, less dense
• rises and mixes

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Factors Contributing to Air Pollution

TEMPERATURE
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Factors Contributing to Air Pollution

WIND

WIND
H E I G H T
Coning
Weak Lapse Condition Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate
TEMPERATURE
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Factors Contributing to Air Pollution

WIND

Simple Dispersion
H E I G H T
Isothermal Condition
Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate
TEMPERATURE
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Factors Contributing to Air Pollution
WIND


H E I G H T
Fanning
Inversion Condition Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate
TEMPERATURE
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Factors Contributing to Air Pollution
WIND


Lofting
H E I G H T
Inversion Below Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate
TEMPERATURE
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Factors Contributing to Air Pollution
WIND


H E I G H T
Fumigation or Trapping
Inversion Above Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate
TEMPERATURE
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Reference ToolsHardcopy References

• AP-42 Compilation of Air Pollution Emission
  Factors
• Volume I STATIONARY SOURCES w/Supplements A-E
• 5th Edition Primary reference for NAAQS
  emissions
• Includes HAPS green house gas EFs
• Available from the Government Printing Office
• Hard Copy 055-000-00500-1 56
• CD-ROM 055-000-00501-0 18
• Voice [phone] FAX [phone]
• Website www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/

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Reference ToolsHardcopy References

• AP-42 Compilation of Air Pollution Emission
  Factors
• Volume II MOBILE SOURCES
• Part I Highway Vehicles
• Part II Nonroad Mobile Sources
• NEW !! 5th Edition (Soon to be released)
• Available from Government Printing Office
• Voice [phone] FAX [phone]
• Website www.epa.gov/omswww/

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Reference ToolsComputer Databases

• AIR CHIEF CD-ROM v 6.0
• BEST compendium of emission inventory tools
• Includes AP-42, FIRE, AFSEF, SPECIATE, LE
  Series
• InfoCHIEF Hotline [phone]
• Govt Prnt Ofc 055-000-00609-1 15
• FIRE Factor Information Retrieval System v
  6.22
• Automated emission factors for criteria
  pollutants HAPs
• Repository System - Many emission factors
• Distribution System - Recommended emission factors

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Reference ToolsComputer Models

• TANKS v 4.02 (Revised 12/99)
• VOCs from stationary storage tanks
• Landfill Air Estimation Model v 2.01 (Revised
  1/99)
• VOCs HAPs from active and inactive landfills
• DOS and Windows-based versions available
• CHEMDAT8
• VOCs from Treatment, Storage Disposal
  Facilities
• MECH
• Emissions from paved unpaved roads and material
  handling

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Reference ToolsOpen Burning/Open Detonation
References

• ADOBI - Database of OB/OD Emission Factors
• Western Desert Test Center, Dugway PG, Utah
  Contains EFs from tests of 34 items
  (250 target chemicals) CD-ROM v.1.1 (June 97)
  POC RJ Black 801-831-3825
  
  
• MIDAS - Munitions Items Disposition Action
  System
• Internet database characterizing munition items
  Website www.dac.army.mil
  
  POC Larry Nortunen at 815-273-8056

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Reference ToolsComputerized References

• FAA Engine Emission Database (FAAEED)
• Criteria pollutant emission factors for
  commercial, civil and military aircraft (fixed
  and rotary wing)
• Web address www.epa.gov/oms/nonroad.htm

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Reference ToolsComputerized References

• EPA OAQPS TTNBBS - www.epa.gov/ttn/
• AIRS - Aerometric Information Retrieval System
• AMTIC - Ambient Monitoring Technical Information
  Center
• CATC - Clean Air Technology Center
  (RACT/BACT/LAER Information System)
• CHIEF - Clearinghouse for Inventories/Emission
  Factors
• EMC - Emission Measurement Center
• NSR - New Source Review
• OAR PG - Ofc of Air Radiation, Policy
  Guidance Documents

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Summary

• Definitions
• Classification of Sources
• Ambient air Contaminants
• Categories of Sources
• Ambient Air Standards
• Variables to Consider
• Susceptible Populations and Effects
• Factors Contributing to Air Pollution

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Questions

• ?