Environmental Pollution Control

(ET ZC362 – WILP Course)

BITS Pilani Lakshmi Sirisha

Department of Chemical Engineering
Hyderabad Campus
 Session 1
21st July, 2018

Topics to be covered:
- Introduction
- Course Modules
- Text Books and references
- Evaluation scheme

• Chapter 1 : Impact of Man on Earth

- The Biosphere
- Hydrologic cycle
- Nutrient cycles-Carbon and Nitrogen

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

 BITS Pilani
Pilani|Dubai|Goa|Hyderabad

Course Description

12/2/2018 ET ZC362 Environmental Pollution Control 3

Course Introduction

Course Title Environmental Pollution Control

Course ID No. ET ZC362

Instructor Lakshmi Sirisha

mail id: sirisha@hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

About Instructor
Present:
Working as Assistant Professor ()/Lecturer in Chemical
Engineering department

Past:
Granules India Limited and Kemwell Biopharma Private Limited-
Pharma and Biopharma industries (4.5 years)

Academia:
Pursuing Ph.D: Since 2013
M.Tech (2008): Institute of chemical technology, Mumbai
B.Tech (2006): University of Mumbai.

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Course Modules
Session Module Title Objectives
No
1-2 Impact of Man on the Overview of environment & its impacts
Environment: An Overview
3 Air Pollution Types of air pollutants, Effect of air pollution,
Air pollution laws
4 Meteorological Aspects of Air Concept of dispersion of pollutants in
Pollutant Dispersion atmosphere, Understanding of air dispersion
models
5 Air Pollution Sampling and Details of air pollutant samplers
Measurement

6-8 Air Pollution Control Methods & Principles of air pollution control methods,
Equipment Problems related to these methods (control of
particulates)

9 Review session

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Course Modules
Session No Module Title Objectives

10 Control of Gaseous Pollutants Various control techniques for criteria pollutants

such as SO2, NOX, CO and hydrocarbons

11-12 Water Pollutants Introduction to water pollution, Types of water

pollutants, Laws & standards of water pollution

13 Noise pollution

14 Wastewater Sampling and Analysis Sampling methods, Understanding of concepts of

DO, BOD, COD, TOC, inorganic substances, physical
characteristics of water
15 Waste Water Treatment Concept of primary and secondary treatment
techniques
16-17 Solid Waste Management including Classification of solid waste & Various disposal
Hazardous Wastes methods. Classification of hazardous waste &
Various disposal methods
18 Review session

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Text Books & References

Text Book(s)

T1 Rao, C.S., Environmental Pollution Control Engineering, New Age

International Revised 2nd Ed., 2006
T2 Noise Pollution WILP Notes. (Note: Softcopy of these notes is available for
download from BITS WILP website.)

Reference Book(s) & other resources

R1 McKinney, Ross E., “Environmental Pollution Control Microbiology” ,

available on http://www.dekker.com, Dekker Encyclopedia series
R2 Peavy, H.S., Rowe, D.R. and Technobanolous, G., “Environmental
Engineering” McGraw Hill, 1985.

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Evaluation Scheme
No. Name Type Duratio Weigh Day, Date, Session, Time
n t

EC-1 Quiz-I/ Online - 5% September 10 to 20, 2018

Assignment-I
Quiz-II Online - 5% October 20 to 30, 2018
Quiz-III/ Online - 5% November 10 to 20, 2018
Assignment-II

EC-2 Mid-Semester Closed 2 hours 35% 29/09/2018 (AN)

Test Book 2 PM – 4PM

EC-3 Comprehensive Open 3 hours 50% 24/11/2018 (AN)

Exam Book 2 PM – 5PM

Syllabus for Mid-Semester Test (Closed Book): Topics in Session Nos. 1 to 8

Syllabus for Comprehensive Exam (Open Book): All topics (Session Nos. 1 to 18)

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

 BITS Pilani
Pilani|Dubai|Goa|Hyderabad

Chapter 1
Impact of Man on Environment
12/2/2018 ET ZC362 Environmental Pollution Control 10
 Biosphere
Earth science generally
recognizes 4 spheres,

• Lithosphere

• Hydrosphere

• Atmosphere

• Biosphere

Source:http://dizonsdiggs.weebly.com/topic-1-earths-spheres-atmosphere-and-water-
cycle.html

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Earth’s spheres

Source:http://dizonsdiggs.weebly.com/topic-1-earths-spheres-atmosphere-and-water-
cycle.html

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Biosphere

• Biosphere: Environment which supports life & sustains

various human activities
• The biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also
be termed the zone of life on Earth. (Source: Wikipedia)
• Shallow compared to total size of Earth & extends 20 km
from bottom of ocean to the highest point in atmosphere
• Contains 1.75 million species
• Supplies essential requisites of life for all species like light,
heat, food & habitats

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Biosphere and ecosystems
Biosphere which is large and complex is further divided into small units –
Ecosystems.
Ecosystems are divided into two parts
- Biotic category (Producers, consumers and decomposers)
- Abiotic components- contains basic elements like carbon, phophorus,
nitrogen etc.

Aquatic ecosystem

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 Hydrologic cycle
• Most important of all natural cycles
• Lakes, streams, ground water constitute less than 1% of the total
supply which we depend on heavily.
• Cycle depends on evaporation and precipitation
• 37,000 km3 of water every year is temporarily stored and
discharged into oceans which is available for human needs.

12/2/2018 ET ZC362 Environmental Pollution Control 15

Hydrologic cycle

• Source: Wikipedia
12/2/2018 ET ZC362 Environmental Pollution Control 16
Major processes in Hydrologic cycle
• Precipitation
Condensed water vapor that falls to the Earth's surface. Most precipitation occurs as rain,
but also includes snow, hail, fog drip etc. 78% of global precipitation occurs over the
ocean.
• Runoff
The variety of ways by which water moves across the land. This includes both surface
runoff and channel runoff. As it flows, the water may seep into the ground, evaporate into
the air, become stored in lakes or reservoirs, or be extracted for agricultural or other
human uses.
• Evaporation
The transformation of water from liquid to gas phases as it moves from the ground or
bodies of water into the overlying atmosphere. The source of energy for evaporation is
primarily solar radiation. 86% of global evaporation occurs over the ocean.
• Condensation
The transformation of water vapor to liquid water droplets in the air, creating clouds and
fog.
• Transpiration
The release of water vapor from plants and soil into the air

12/2/2018 ET ZC362 Environmental Pollution Control 17

Carbon cycle

The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by

which carbon is exchanged among
the biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth.
Carbon is the main component of biological compounds as well
as a major component of many minerals such as limestone.
Along with the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle, the carbon
cycle comprises a sequence of events that are key to make
Earth capable of sustaining life.
It describes the movement of carbon as it is recycled and reused
throughout the biosphere, as well as long-term processes
of carbon sequestration to and release from carbon sinks.

Source: Wikipedia

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Carbon cycle

Producers through
photosynthesis reduce CO2 from
atmosphere to organic carbon
Consumers and decomposers
releases CO2 back to
atmosphere through respiration
and decomposition
Additional return from producers
and consumers occurs through a
non biological process of
combustion.
Human activities have increased
the atmospheric CO2 and
disturbed the dynamic
equilibrium.

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Carbon cycle
• Oceans hold a large amount 0f carbon di oxide acting as vast sink.
• Typical reservoirs for carbon( in billion tonnes) are oceans: 40,000, fossil
fuels and rocks and minerals- 5,000 to 10,000, vegetation and soil-2,000
and atmosphere- 750.
• Human activities have increased the atmospheric CO2 by 7.0 billion
tonnes of carbon. Out of this, 3.0 billion tonnes accumulate in the
atmosphere and the rest is taken up by the oceans and terrestrial plants.
• Although the net amount of CO2 added by human activities is a small
fraction of the total held by the atmosphere, the delicate dynamic
equilibrium that is maintained because of the natural processes in the
environment is disrupted.
• Earth which has significant reserves of bound carbon in the form of
limestone and fossil fuels enters atmosphere aquatic reservoir due to
activities such as combustion or due to weathering and dissolution of
rocks or volcanic eruptions

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Carbon cycle

Movement of carbon between land, atmosphere, and ocean in billions of tons per year. Yellow
numbers are natural fluxes, red are human contributions, white are stored carbon.

Source: Wikipedia
BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 Carbon cycle-disruption
• Burning of fossil fuels has increased the atmospheric carbon-di-oxide
concentration by more than 30%. Deforestation by humans have further
decreased nature’s ability to remove excess atmospheric carbon-di-oxide

Source:https://www.abelard.org/briefings/global_warming.php

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Nitrogen cycle

The nitrogen cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by

which nitrogen is converted into multiple chemical forms
as it circulates among the atmosphere, terrestrial,
and marine ecosystems.
The conversion of nitrogen can be carried out through both
biological and physical processes.
Important processes in the nitrogen cycle include :
• Fixation,
• Ammonification
• Nitrification
• Denitrification

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Nitrogen cycle

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Nitrogen cycle
• Nitrogen in gaseous form constitutes 79% of atmosphere which must be
‘fixed’ before utilization by plants and animals.
• Fixation takes place by physicochemical and biological means where
atmospheric nitrogen is converted into its chemical compounds largely
nitrates (NO3) and ammonia (NH3)
• Biological fixation is much bigger than other physicochemical processes.
Free-living bacteria like Azetobacter and Clostridium, nodule bacteria like
Rhizobium and some blue green algae etc. are the nitrogen fixing
organisms that convert gaseous nitrogen to nitrates.
• The nitrates are then assimilated to form amino acids, urea and other
organic residues in the producers-consumers-decomposers cycle.
• The ammonifying bacteria then converts these residues to ammonia
through a process called ammonification
• Finally, the denitrifying bacteria converts ammonia to nitrites and then
nitrates and then back to atmospheric nitrogen, thus completing the nitrogen
cycle.

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Nitrogen cycle-disruption
• As a result of extensive cultivation of legumes (particularly soy, alfalfa, and
clover), excessive use of nitrogenous fertilizers, and pollution emitted by
vehicles and industrial plants, human beings have more than doubled the
annual transfer of nitrogen into biologically available forms. This excess
nitrogen has contributed to eutrophication in lakes, rivers etc.
Eutrophication is excessive growth of plants and algae in aquatic
environment due to increased availability of nutrients and minerals.

• Nitrous oxide (N2O) has risen in the atmosphere as a result of agricultural

fertilization, biomass burning, cattle and feedlots, and industrial sources.
Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas and is currently the third largest
contributor to global warming, after carbon dioxide and methane. It also has
caused deterioration of ozone.

• Ammonia (NH3) in the atmosphere has tripled as the result of human

activities. It is a reactant in the atmosphere, where it acts as an aerosol,
decreasing air quality and clinging to water droplets, eventually resulting in
nitric acid (HNO3) that produces acid rain. Atmospheric ammonia and nitric
acid also damage respiratory systems. BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
 BITS Pilani
Pilani|Dubai|Goa|Hyderabad

END

12/2/2018 ET ZC362 Environmental Pollution Control 27