There is no doubt that humans cause air pollution. Most of this air pollution we cause results from the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, natural gas, and gasoline, to produce electricity and power vehicles. Since we are the cause, what can we do to control the amount of air pollution released into the environment?
Efforts are being made in many places to control air pollution. In some countries where much of the air pollution is caused by exhaust from automobiles, the induction of emission controls have reduced pollution. This means that automobile engines are now built to ensure that fewer pollutants are released from the exhaust. Also, waste gases from industrial processes are being treated to remove the most serious pollutants before the gases are released into the atmosphere.
Pollution control is the process of reducing or eliminating the release of pollutants into the environment. It is regulated by various environmental agencies that establish limits for the discharge of pollutants into the air. These imposed regulations are called clean air acts, and they are designed to bring awareness to and reduce the amount of air pollution. For example, the Air Pollution Control Act of 1955 was the first United States clean air act enacted to address the environmental problem of air pollution. A wide variety of devices and systems have been developed to control air pollution. Since then, amendments have been made to give the federal government more power to enforce the regulation of industry emissions. In the U.S., new and stricter emission standards were created for the automobile industry in 1995.
Methods of air pollution control can be divided into the two categories you learned about--the control of particulate matter and the control of gaseous emissions. Click through these tabs to learn some specific ways air pollution is being controlled.
Methods for particulate control tend to operate on a common principle. The solid particles are separated from the smoke or gases. Then the waste gases or smoke is passed through a series of filters or a settling chamber. Filters remove many of the solid particles from the smoke. A settling chamber is a long, wide pipe through which gases from a manufacturing process are allowed to flow. As these gases slow down in the pipe, the solid particles settle out at the bottom. They can then be removed from the bottom of the pipe.
A cyclone dust collector like the one shown here is another device for removing solids from gases released from a smokestack. The gases are fed into a rotating cylindrical container. As the cylinder spins, centrifugal forces (the forces that move things away from the center of rotation) send solid particles in the gas outward against the walls of the container. The solids collect there briefly and then fall to the bottom of the container. Gases from which the solids have been removed then escape from the top of the container.
Question: Why do you think this dust collector is referred to as a cyclone collector?
Answer: The shape of the cylinder resembles a cyclone, and the gases that rotate through it circulate in a powerful circular motion like a cyclone.
Question: What are two ways that pollution is being controlled?
Answer: Since 1995 automobiles have been built to release less pollutants in the air. Also, clean air acts have been established that reduce the amount of pollutants released from industrial processes.
** Used from: "20-21 Honors Biology B / Human Impact on the Environment"