Page 46 - Air pollution and greenhouse gases from basic concepts to engineering applications for air emission control

1.6 Scope and Structure of This Book 19

1.6 Scope and Structure of This Book

Air emissions are a subject that requires multidisciplinary backgrounds in engi-
neering, education, physics, chemistry, mathematics, medical science, psychology,
agriculture, architecture, business management, economics, politics, and so on. It is
difficult for any single book to address all aspects of air emissions.
This book is aimed at an advanced education for professionals, senior under-
graduate, and graduate students with educational backgrounds in mechanical,
chemical, and/or environmental engineering. It focuses on the scientific principles
and applications of technologies to control air emissions resulting from fossil fuel
combustion in stationary sources and internal combustion engines. The focus is on
science and technology, upon which many effective air emission control program
must be built. It does not purposely prescribe social, economic, and political factors
that lie outside the scope of this book.
Adequate descriptions of fundamental principles and their engineering applica-
tions in air emission control form the main body of this book. The structure of this
book generally tracks air emissions from their generation sources to their destina-
tion in the atmosphere and built environments. An air pollutant is generated from its
source of combustion, either stationary or mobile, and ends up in the atmosphere. In
between, there are multiple technical approaches to capture this air pollutant. These
technical approaches are designed based on the fundamental principles related to air
pollution control. Once air pollutants are emitted, they go through secondary
reactions in the atmosphere, which are beyond the scope of this book.
Following a brief introduction to air emission in this chapter, Chaps. 2 and 4
cover the basic properties of gaseous and particulate pollutants, respectively. The
combustion of fossil fuels produces pollutants that include oxides of carbon, sulfur
and nitrogen, particulate matter, toxic metals, vapors, and ash. Most air emission
control principles are applicable to a family of air pollutants rather than a single
type. For example, absorption can be used for not only clean fuel production by
cleaning the syngas, but also post-emission air cleaning. Sorption can be used for
the separation of many gaseous pollutants from the air instead of only SO x or
VOCs. A good understanding of their properties is helpful in the design and
evaluation of effective air emission control devices.
Chapter 3 gives a brief review of combustion chemistry and the formation of air
pollutants and GHGs during combustion. The author found that many graduate
students were not familiar with this subject, which is critical to a good under-
standing of air emissions. Effective in-combustion air emission control technologies
to be covered in Part 2 of this book are developed from the principles introduced in
this chapter. For example, NO x formation is very temperature sensitive and low
NO x burners are developed based on this principle.
The last step of air pollution control is separation of air pollutants from air. The
separations of gases and particulates follow different principles, which are intro-
duced in Chaps. 5 and 6, respectively. These are the principles for the corresponding