Advanced Air Quality Control

MEE 6501, Advanced Air Quality Control 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit I Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

6. Estimate the impact of air pollution on the environment. 6.1. Discuss the chemical composition of the atmosphere and its pollutants. 6.2. Discuss the subsequent interactions of atmospheric chemicals and atmospheric pollutants.

Course/Unit Learning Outcomes

Learning Activity

6.1

Unit Lesson Chapter 1, pp. 1-23 Chapter 2, pp. 25-73 Unit I Assessment

6.2

Unit Lesson Chapter 1, pp. 1-23 Chapter 2, pp. 25-73 Unit I Assessment

Reading Assignment Chapter 1: Atmosphere, pp. 1–23 Chapter 2: Atmospheric Pollution and Pollutants, pp. 25–73

Unit Lesson Environmental Management As you will notice, this class is one of several classes within this program of study designated as Master of Environmental Engineering (MEE). As scholar-practitioners of environmental management, we find ourselves once again needing to apply environmental engineering principles in order to adequately establish controls within industrial work systems. Rather than accepting contemporary air quality as a passive variable within our work systems, we want to consider how air quality may be engineered to reflect continuously improved variables within those same work systems. Consequently, in this course we will learn to effectively engineer air quality to acceptably safe control levels. With Godish, Davis, and Fu’s (2014) textbook, this unit is going to allow us to take a step back and evaluate the atmosphere from a chemical perspective, even while evaluating other chemicals present that may be pollutants to pristine air chemistry. What we discuss together in this first unit will largely inform our ability to recognize data-based health implications of current air quality, engineer controls to improve the air quality, and, subsequently, forecast future air quality chemistries. First, given the nature of air chemistry, it is imperative that we understand the concept of reduction and oxidation (redox reactions). You will find as we work through the first two chapters of the textbook that we must be able to grasp the role of oxygen at play in most of the chemical reactions, within atmospheric and ambient air, during the formation of chemical sinks. By definition, we refer to a body of water or land that releases more materials than it accepts—such as carbon dioxide (CO2) or nitrous oxides (NOx)—as a source. Sources may be generated from either nature’s activities (such as decaying plant biomatter, as well as animal and plant respiration, volcanoes, and forest fires) or

UNIT I STUDY GUIDE

The Atmosphere and Atmospheric Pollutants

MEE 6501, Advanced Air Quality Control 2

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE

Title

anthropogenic activities (such as hydrocarbon combustion from transport vehicles and ships, chemical manufacturing emissions, oil and gas refining emissions, painting operations, and even environmental contamination remediation activities). These sources may be in the form of particulate matter, aerosol vapors, or gases (Vallero, 2014). Conversely, we refer to a body of the same three possible matrices that accepts and stores more materials than it releases (thereby affording pollutants to be naturally removed from the atmosphere) as a sink (Withgott & Laposata, 2018). Water sinks may include bodies as small as a lake or as large as an ocean. Land sinks may include vegetation, soil, and even structures (Vallero, 2014). As a specific example, some of the excess CO2 in our atmosphere is currently being absorbed by the world’s ocean forests, making both the affected oceans and forests functional CO2 sinks (Withgott & Laposata, 2018; Phalen & Phalen, 2013). This sequestration function of sinks is then a matter of chemical reactions taking place, altering the original pollutant’s chemical composition and rendering it as immobile from the ambient atmosphere. Very often, this is accomplished through a natural chemical reaction called a redox reaction (Godish et al., 2014). Atmospheric Concerns Among the 1% of trace gases and 78% of nitrogen (N2) present in the atmosphere, oxygen (O2) comprises approximately 21% of the total atmospheric gas (Godish et al., 2014) while accounting for approximately 60% of an individual human’s total body weight (Hill & Feigl, 1987). The simple principle of a redox reaction is that one cannot have one (oxidation or reduction) reaction without having the other. In any redox reaction, a chemical substance that contributes an electron is said to be oxidized, and the chemical substance that receives the electron is said to be reduced. As such, when one substance is oxidized, another substance is simultaneously reduced (Hill & Feigl, 1987). This principle becomes increasingly important as Godish et al. (2014) help us study metals undergoing simple oxidation, specifically with oxygen (p. 21), or even complex peroxide compounds (peroxy radicals) being formed in the presence of nitrogen and carbon (organic) pollutants (pp. 42, 57). Second, we must acknowledge two additional variables critical in air chemistry. Temperature gradients and pollutant particle size are sometimes easily overlooked after one spends a considerable amount of time learning the stoichiometric chemistry of air. Ironically, these two variables work to largely inform our application of air chemistry as a means of evaluating, protecting, and improving environmental air quality for both human and ecological life (Phalen & Phalen, 2013). Godish et al. (2014) are careful to discuss thermal radiation from the sun that defines our various atmospheric zones (layers). Their discussion of the impact of gravity and subsequent atmospheric densities and pressures will help us to understand the resulting phenomenon of wind and other global air circulations. Their discussion of atmospheric aerosol particle sizes and shapes will then help us to understand predictable pollutant behaviors in different climates around the world. As such, this first unit will help us to understand why and how we can use chemistry and physics to anticipate air quality problems, quantitatively measure air quality, engineer controls to remove and restrict pollutants from the air, and forecast the engineered air quality for industrial applications. Spend the time that you need in this first unit to fully grasp the concepts. The math and chemistry that we will learn together in subsequent units will be built upon these basic principles. Course Layout As we progress through this class, we are going to be developing a quantitative air permit evaluation document for a given scenario as a practical means of applying what we learn every week, within the context of a course project. Beginning in Unit II, this course project will be working through the quantitative evaluation of a work process for the potential need of a United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) Title V Air Permit. This will be through the development of a “Permit by Rule (PBR) Evaluation” related to a single specific industry sector’s work system of your choice. We will collectively engineer considerations for hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), complete with volatile organic compound (VOC) gas calculations, and then carefully design the appropriate facilities and pollution control equipment (paint booths, ovens, ventilation systems, emission stacks, and so on). As such, we will draw heavily upon each chapter of the textbook as we engineer one section of the PBR evaluation document each week.

MEE 6501, Advanced Air Quality Control 3

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE

Title

Here is a quick look at the work that we will be doing as we evaluate our individually selected PBR evaluation over the next six units. We will be using provided fictitious state-specific regulatory guidance thresholds in the project scenario as a regulatory comparison tool to evaluate the implications of each calculated value that you derive from each of your mathematical computations. Air quality engineering and permitting is a very quantitative exercise. Consequently, it is very important to become comfortable with making algebraic calculations in order to effectively evaluate the work system’s air quality. Remember that we must make the work system safe for human and ecological life well before we inject humans and the environment into that work system. This is our most fundamental role as graduate-degreed environmental professionals.

 Unit II: (a) Review of the tabulated Safety Data Sheet (SDS) information for each material involved in

your selected industry sector’s work system for HAPs and development of a designed process flow and (b) development of a formal process flow diagram for the operation.

 Unit III: Calculate VOC emissions and any affected exempt solvent content for each gallon of

paint/coating used in the process.

 Unit IV: Calculate maximum hourly and annual emissions rates, average emission rates over a five- hour period, and the potential to emit compared to the DEQ permit limits.

 Unit V: Calculate the affected work area, filter, and face velocities for the operation.

 Unit VI: Calculate the VOC minus water and any affected exempt solvents’ emissions.

 Unit VII: Calculate the emissions of products of combustion from any heaters and ovens in the process.

Here are the industry sectors from which you will select (one) to work, even as you develop your quantitative PBR evaluation document:

 Aircraft manufacturing exterior coating paint booth

 Rail tank car interior lining process

 Vehicle exterior coating paint booth What you will notice is that, as we progress through the application process, our ability to apply what we are learning from Godish et al. (2014) will be enhanced. We will be taking the theoretical concepts and academic tools (mathematics) and be operationalizing the work system’s processes in a way that will inform the future operators of the work system, as well as engineer the process to be in automatic compliance with the affected state and U.S. EPA environmental regulations. This tandem engineering strategy works to increase the time-to- market opportunities for the organization operating the business unit’s facilities, and it subsequently puts the environmental engineer in a position to improve the business aspect of a return-on- investment (ROI) for the affected business unit. This type of strategic environmental engineering, with a focus on business analytics, is how we as environmental engineers can effectively help to manage and positively impact the business units within which we are called to work. Consequently, this becomes a very important strategy in contemporary business environments that need consistent reassurance that health, safety, and environmental (HSE) efforts are an active force in helping to create a profitable business unit. This is in contrast to the competing view that HSE efforts are a necessary drain on the business unit’s profitability. This may be your first opportunity to work as an environmental engineer. Learn absolutely as much as you can in this class, consider the terms that you see in italics in this lesson, and think like an environmental engineer as you work through the textbook and the air permit application. This is how we combine the science

Spray booth designs vary, but the calculations we will use cover different types of applications. (Grichenko, 2017)

MEE 6501, Advanced Air Quality Control 4

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE

Title

and math of engineering into our field of environmental management. Let’s get started engineering air quality back into our local work and residential environment!

References Godish, T., Davis, W. T., & Fu, J. S. (2014). Air quality (5th ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Grichenko, A. (2017). Inside an aircraft automotive spray paint booth (ID 105574353) [Photograph]. Retrieved

from https://www.dreamstime.com/inside-aircraft-automotive-spray-paint-booth-inside-aircraft- automotive-spray-paint-booth-image105574353

Hill, J., & Feigl, D. (1987). Chemistry and life: An introduction to general, organic, and biological life (3rd ed.).

New York, NY: Macmillian. Phalen, R. F., & Phalen, R. N. (2013). Introduction to air pollution science: A public health perspective.

Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Vallero, D. (2014). Fundamentals of air pollution (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Academic Press. Withgott, J., & Laposata, M. (2018). Environment: The science behind the stories (6th ed.). New York, NY:

Pearson.

Suggested Reading In order to access the following resources, click the links below. The following article provides a demonstration of how air quality engineers can forecast the aqueous hydroxyl oxidation and photolysis of diverse, complex pollutant compounds in chemical sinks. This is a great example of how we use redox reactions to inform our environmental engineering of air quality. Epstein, S. A., & Nizkorodov, S. A. (2012). A comparison of the chemical sinks of atmospheric organics in the

gas and aqueous phase. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 12, 8205–8222. Retrieved from https://aerosol.chem.uci.edu/publications/Irvine/2012_Epstein_ACP_photolysis.pdf

The following article provides a practical application of Epstein and Nizkordov’s (2012) article, above. This article is a presentation of a quantitative chemical transport model that speciates complex pollutant compounds then forecasts the reactions within specified tropospheric chemical sinks through historical benchmarking of global air quality engineering strategies. Huijnen, V., Williams, J. E., van Weele, M., van Noije, T., Krol, M., Dentener, F., & …. Patz, H. (2010). The

global chemistry transport model TM5: Description and evaluation of the tropospheric chemistry version 3.0. Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, 3(2), 445–473. Retrieved from https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direc t=true&db=a9h&AN=55382701&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Learning Activities (Nongraded) Nongraded Learning Activities are provided to aid students in their course of study. You do not have to submit them. If you have questions, contact your instructor for further guidance and information. Click here to view a matching activity that covers important terminology from this unit.