Primary and Secondary Air Pollutants

Airborne emissions emitted from various industries are a cause of major concern. These emissions are of two forms, viz. solid particles (SPM) and gaseous emissions. Thus, Air Pollutants can be solid particles, liquid droplets, or gases. They can be natural or manmade. The pollutants have been classified into primary and secondary categories.

• The primary pollutants are “directly” emitted from the processes such as fossil fuel consumption, Volcanic eruption and factories. The major primary pollutants are Oxides of Sulphur, Oxides of Nitrogen, Oxides of Carbon, Particulate Matter, Methane, Ammonia, Chlorofluorocarbons, Toxic metals etc.
• The secondary pollutants are not emitted directly. The secondary pollutants form when the primary pollutants react with themselves or other components of the atmosphere. Most important secondary level Air Pollutants are Ground Level Ozone, Smog and POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants).

Primary Air Pollutants

Oxides of Sulphur

Sulphur Oxides are generally a product of the Volcanoes, Industrial processes, Coal and petroleum, because most of them have Sulphur as a component. The Sulphur Dioxide in presence of a catalyst such as NO2 causes Acid Rain, because of the formation of Sulphuric Acid. The Indian Coal is though low in sulphur content but still coal consumption is a major danger of acid rain because of the coal based power plants.

Oxides of Nitrogen

Most of the Nitrogen Oxides are produced due to high temperature combustion. In the cities the brown haze dome above the cities is mostly because of the Nitrogen Oxides. The most important toxic gas is Nitrogen dioxide which is brown, with sharp odour.

Oxides of Carbon

Carbon Monoxide, which is colourless, odourless and non irritating but very poisonous gas is the product of incomplete combustion of the natural gas, coal or wood. The vehicle exhaust is the major source of CO.

The Carbon Dioxide is associated with the Ocean Acidification and is emitted from combustion, factories and respiration of living organisms.

Then, we have primary pollutants such as Volatile Organic Compounds or VOCs which are methane (CH4) and non-methane (NMVOCs).

• Methane is a GHG which contributes to Global Warming.
• The NMVOCs include the aromatic compounds such as Benzene, Toluene, Xylene which are proved or suspected carcinogens.
• Another dangerous compound is the 1,3-butadiene, often associated with industrial uses.

Particulate Matter

The particulate matters are the fine particles which may be either solid or liquid, suspended in a gas. They are different from the Aerosols. Aerosols are particle and gas referred together. The aerosols which are created by the Human activities are anthropogenic aerosols. They account for around 10% of the total aerosols in the atmosphere.

Other Primary Pollutants

Another category of the primary air pollutants is toxic metals such as Cadmium, Lead and Copper, which are products of the Industrial processes. The Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are proved to be harmful to the ozone layer emitted from products currently banned from use. In agriculture process, Ammonia is emitted which has characteristic pungent odor. It is a precursor to foodstuffs and fertilizers. Ammonia is also a building block for the synthesis of many pharmaceuticals.

Secondary Air Pollutants

Ground Level Ozone

The most important secondary pollutant is the Ground Level Ozone or Tropospheric Ozone. Emissions from industrial facilities and electric utilities, motor vehicle exhaust, gasoline vapours, and chemical solvents are some of the major sources of Nox and VOC. Ground Level Ozone forms due to reactions of the NOx, Carbon Monoxide and VOCs in presence of sunlight.

Smog

Another most important secondary pollutant is the Smog, which has made up of Smoke and Fog. Traditionally, the smog has resulted from large amounts of coal burning in an area caused by a mixture of smoke and sulphur dioxide. Now-a-days, the Vehicle emissions and Industrial emissions that are acted on in the atmosphere by ultraviolet light from the sun to form secondary pollutants that also combine with the primary emissions to form photochemical smog.