Air Pollution Control and Design for Industry

PaulN. Cheremisinoff

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351467711
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Environmental Conservation & Protection
• Index: Biological Sciences

Presents current methods for controlling air pollution generated at stationary industrial sources and provides complete coverage of control options, equipment and techniques. The main focus of the book is on practical solutions to air pollution problems.

1

Stacks in Pollution Control

This chapter explores the design of stacks from the point of view of the downwind observer whose task is to determine the connection between stack design, process emissions, meteorology, and, most important, environmental effects. Stacks must be designed to specifications based on meteorological conditions and environmental air quality standards, which may be quite unrelated to process requirements.

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DESIGN OF STACKS

This section defines the principal factors which must be accounted for when designing a stack for air pollution control purposes. These factors govern the dispersion and transport of the pollutants and define the performance criteria against which the stack will be compared. These factors include: (1) air quality standards, (2) meteorological conditions, and (3) topographical peculiarities.

The problem of designing a stack to exploit its air pollution control potential largely reduces to a problem of determining a stack height which will assure nonpolluting performance. This means designing a stack to meet some performance standard (usually legally binding) given the meteorological conditions, topographic influences, and process exit conditions. Usually, the exit gas conditions are unalterable and the topographic influences are unknown or speculative. This leaves the meteorology and the air quality standards as the governing design criteria.

Described are the governing factors which show how unknown topographic influences can, in fact, be the overriding concern in designing and, more important, in siting a stack. Hopefully, an appreciation of the imprecision of the available data and the uncertainty of performance predictions based on these data will be conveyed.

Air Quality Standards

Not too long ago, the simple 2-1/2 rule, which states that the height of a stack should be 2-1/2 times higher than the nearest surrounding structure, represented the most reliable way to design stacks for avoidance of ground-level pollution problems. Indeed, historically this rule was actually incorporated into the building code in Great Britain. As regulators became more concerned with the effects of increasing pollutant concentrations in the atmosphere, ground-level ambient air standards were adopted which prescribed maximum tolerable ambient air concentrations for a variety of substances. The Clean Air Acts authorized the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to promulgate Primary and Secondary National Ambient Air Quality Standards to protect the health and welfare in the United States.

Source operators must, therefore, be certain that they are familiar with the standards applicable to plant operations, for the performance of the source may ultimately be compared against a variety of standards. The rule of thumb in determining which state or federal standard applies when they appear to conflict is that the more stringent standard prevails.

In addition to environmental regulations governing the concentration of ground-level pollutants, there also exist Federal Aviation Administration regulations on the maximum permissible stack height at a given distance from an airport or along air corridors. These regulations may limit the air pollution control potential of a stack by restricting upper limits on stack heights.

Therefore, the first step in designing a stack for air pollution control purposes is to determine exactly what regulatory constraints and requirements exist at the particular site. These constraints and requirements may be so severe that alternative means of air pollution control may have to be sought. In any case, the regulations specify a performance standard to which the stack must be designed, and against which the design can be evaluated.

Meteorology

Necessary Parameters. Meteorological conditions, as much as any other consideration, determine how a stack should be designed for air pollution control purposes. Operating transport mechanisms are determined by the micrometeorologic...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• CHAPTER 1 STACKS IN POLLUTION CONTROL
• CHAPTER 2 MODELING ATMOSPHERIC DISPERSION OF POLLUTANTS
• CHAPTER 3 GRAVITY SETTLING CHAMBERS
• CHAPTER 4 CYCLONES
• CHAPTER 5 FABRIC FILTERS
• CHAPTER 6 ELECTROSTATICS AND ELECTRO-STATIC PRECIPITATION
• CHAPTER 7 GAS-PHASE ADSORPTION FOR AIR POLLUTION CONTROL
• CHAPTER 8 THERMAL INCINERATION
• CHAPTER 9 PACKED WET SCRUBBERS
• CHAPTER 10 JET VENTURI FUME SCRUBBING
• CHAPTER 11 VENTURI SCRUBBERS
• CHAPTER 12 LIME/LIMESTONE SCRUBBING FOR SO2 REMOVAL
• CHAPTER 13 FANS AND BLOWERS
• CHAPTER 14 SAMPLING AND STACK TESTING
• CHAPTER 15 INDUSTRIAL ODOR CONTROL
• CHAPTER 16 AIR CLEAN-UP AND WATER POLLUTION PROBLEMS
• CHAPTER 17 PLANT COMPLIANCE FOR MANAGERS
• CHAPTER 18 INDOOR/IN-PLANT AIR QUALITY
• INDEX