Air pollution by sulfur dioxide

Hemminki K, Niemi M-L. 1982. Community study of spontaneous abortions Relation to occupation and air pollution by sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon disulfide. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 51 55-63. 

The large quantities of calcium sulfite produced in the process present a disposal problem. For a typical scrubber approximately 1 ton of calcium sulfite per year is produced per person served by the power plant. Since no use has yet been found for this calcium sulfite, it is usually buried in a landfill. As a result of these difficulties, air pollution by sulfur dioxide continues to be a major problem, one that is expensive in terms of damage to the environment and to human health, as well as in monetary terms. 

Acid rain a result of air pollution by sulfur dioxide. (5.11) Acidic oxide a covalent oxide that dissolves in water to give an acidic solution. (19.3)... 

Acid rain a result of air pollution by sulfur dioxide. (5.10)... 

Even less is known about the effects of ozone on carbohydrates. Buell et al. observed a decrease in the depolymerization of hyaluronic acid after treatment of the lungs of ozone-exposed rabbits (1 ppm for 1 h) with hyaluronidase. B. Goldstein et al. reported a loss in membrane neuraminic acid of red cells exposed in vitro to high concentrations of ozone. It would be important to study the effects of ozone on respiratory tract mucus, which is rich in carbohydrates, including neuraminic acid. This could indude determination of foe extent to which ozone is able to penetrate mucus that is unaltered, whether foe reaction of ozone with mucus results in the formation of cytotoxic intermediates, and evaluation of the interaction in mucus of ozone with other air pollutants, particularly sulfur dioxide. Of possible pertinence is a study by Falk et who observed that ozone produced a loss in foe viral hemagglutinating ability of snail mucus. 

Nylon fibers are used extensively in outdoor textiles and as a result are subject to sunlight, varying temperatures and acid precipitation. The degradation of nylon by light, heat, humidity and air polluted with sulfur dioxide has been widely studied (8-13). However, little data is available on the effect of aqueous acid on nylon in the presence of heat, light and moisture (i.e. acid rain conditions). Therefore, the purpose of this work was to determine the effect of acid rain conditions on nylon. The synergistic effects of aqueous acid, light and heat on nylon were also examined. 

A certain sample of coal contains 1.6 percent sulfur by mass. When the coal is burned, the sulfur is converted to sulfur dioxide. To prevent air pollution, this sulfur dioxide is treated with calcium oxide (CaO) to form calcium sulfite (CaS03). Calculate the daily mass (in kilograms) of CaO needed by a power plant that uses 6.60 X 10 kg of coal per day. 

By the end of the 1960s, awareness was growing throughout Europe of the health and environmental problems that could be associated with not only smoke, dust, and soot, but other air pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and lead. The idea that air pollution was a matter that required national government intervention was slowly gaining acceptance across Western Europe. 

Sulfur trioxide is probably a worse pollutant than sulfur dioxide, because SO3 is the acid anhydride of strong, corrosive sulfuric acid. Sulfur trioxide reacts with water vapor in the air, as well as in auto exhausts, to form sulfuric acid droplets. This problem must be overcome if the current type of catalytic converter is to see continued use. These same catalysts also suffer from the problem of being poisoned —that is, made inactive—by lead. Leaded fuels contain tetraethyl lead, Pb(C2H5)4, and tetramethyl lead, Pb(CH3)4. Such fuels are not suitable for automohiles equipped with catalytic converters and are excluded hy U. S. law from use in such cars. 

Research on the long-term effects of low-level pollution continues. Air pollution by ozone, sulfur dioxide, and particulates in Britain kills 24,000 people annually.58 It is estimated that exposure to diesel exhaust over a 70-year lifetime will cause 450 cases of cancer per million people in California.59 Epidemiologists continue to investigate clusters of diseases such as the two to four times higher incidence of neural tube and certain heart defects in children born within A mile of Superfund sites in California,60 the lower birth weight and prematurity of infants born to... 

There is, however, some success to note in the reduction of sulfur emissions from industrial operations in some developed countries. The European Union, for example, expect a decrease in sulfur dioxide emissions from 1990 to 2010, ranging from 11 to 47% in its individual member states (Anonymous 1999, see also Part I, Chapter 3). However, significant problems persist with regard to air pollution by SO2 (see the following paragraph). 

Similar to smog, acid rain is caused by chemical reactions of pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides with oxygen and water in the air. The acidic pollutants formed in these reactions are the cause of acid rain. In addition to environmental pollution due to human activi- Trees and other plants are seen here, damaged or. . 1 1 killed by acid rain. Acid rain results when water in... 

The Kl-method suffers from several interferences, particularly by sulfur dioxide (SO2). Ozone measurements by the Kl-method from urban sites must be regarded with some caution because sulfur dioxide is a major air pollutant produced by the combustion of fossil fuels (e g., of coal). At some stations a C1O3 filter was introduced to remove the bias of SO2, causing possible problems in the homogeneity of the long-term series. Measurements of rural and Alpine sites are much less influenced by such problems. Because of these interferences present monitoring measurements are usnaUy based on the UV-method (see earlier). 

Because biomass is an inherent part of the carbon cycle, combustion of biomass reduces air pollution. The carbon dioxide that is produced during combustion was recently fixed into the biomass material, and thus from a life cycle perspective, CO emissions are reduced by 90% compared with fossil fuels. Sulfur dioxide and... 

Air Pollution. Particulates and sulfur dioxide emissions from commercial oil shale operations would require proper control technology. Compliance monitoring carried out at the Unocal Parachute Creek Project for respirable particulates, oxides of nitrogen, and sulfur dioxide from 1986 to 1990 indicate a +99% reduction in sulfur emissions at the retort and shale oil upgrading faciUties. No violations for unauthorized air emissions were issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during this time (62). 

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