CHBE472 and ENCH648C: Control of Air Pollution Sources
Description: Sources and effects of air pollutants, regulatory trends, atmospheric dispersion models, fundamentals of two-phase flow as applied to air pollution and air pollution control systems, design of systems for control of gases and particulate matter.
Emphasis: The course emphasizes the application of fundamental engineering principles (mass and energy balances, thermodynamics, kinetics, dispersion, mass transfer) to air quality engineering and control. While a differential equations based approach is needed for some topics, there will be considerable emphasis on scaling behavior and dimensional analysis. This elective course is well grounded in the fundamentals of chemical engineering fundamentals (mass and energy balances, thermodynamics, kinetics, mass transport). This course provides the student with a basic understanding of the nature of the driving forces that can be used to remove particles and gases from an industrial exhaust and the application of these principles in the design of economical processes to remove them. The course is aimed at enhancing the student’s ability to apply concepts and use engineering judgment in selecting the most profitable air pollution control. Homework, in-class examples, and the class project develop student design and problem solving skills within given problem constraints (e.g., cost). Contemporary issues from the literature (both journal and industrial reporting) and news media outlets are discussed in class in terms of new problems and emerging control technologies.
Course Objectives:
- To teach students to define air pollution, aerosol, primary and secondary pollutant, and familiarity with National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), identify sources of and health effects for ozone, NOx, SOx, particulate matter, and formaldehyde.
- To teach students to be able to identify, classify and mitigate with control technologies a number of critical air pollutants including sulfur, nitrogen and carbon containing species, photochemical oxidants, halogen containing compounds and air toxics.
- To teach students to develop chemical kinetic expressions to describe atmospheric chemistry, in particular the photostationary state.
- To teach students to estimate ambient concentrations from point, line and area sources, use of atmospheric box and diffusion models to predict ambient concentrations fate and transport
- To expose students to the sources of atmospheric particulate.
- To develop student understanding of current global air quality issues. Discuss causes of global warming/cooling and potential atmospheric implications. Describe processes leading to and mitigation of the Antarctic ozone hole.
- To provide students opportunities to work together as a design team to estimate the impacts of expanding urban development on local air quality. Impacts must include cost/benefit analysis and ethical/environmental justice considerations. Present findings in written and oral report.
Suggested Texts:
1.Air Pollution Control Technology: A Design Approach; Authors: C. David Cooper and F. C. Alley; Fourth Edition; Waveland Press, Inc.
2. Air Pollution: Engineering, Science, and Policy. Author: Steven Sternberk; First Edition; College Publishing