41 - Technology and Costing of Air Pollution Abatement

Abstract

This chapter presents the basic approaches to abatement of air pollution. In selecting an abatement system, one must consider the air pollutant emissions, the gas stream containing the emissions, and the required goal in emission reduction. In characterizing the emissions, its gas stream, and the requirements for removal, the first step is to develop enough background information to evaluate alternative abatement systems and to compute the cost and other impacts of these systems. With this background information, the engineer can evaluate the various abatement systems, select the appropriate system, and design the system in detail. The nature of the pollutants and the gas stream containing the pollutants is key to the design and effectiveness of the abatement system. Air pollutants can be generated and emitted in one of three physical states: gaseous, liquid, or solid. Gaseous air pollutants can be reduced through chemical reactions such as combustion or through physical means such as condensation. In general, emissions of solid air pollutants are reduced through physical means such as impaction or filtration. Liquid air pollutants can be treated as solid air pollutants, but also may be heated to change the liquid to a gas for abatement as a gas.