Air-Pollution Control Equipment and Technology Key Terms

Understand key terms when researching air-pollution control equipment
By John Williams, Business Writing and Research Whether emanating from vehicles, houses or work sites, air pollution costs considerable resources to regulate. Growing concerns over the environment, from greenhouse gases to long-term carcinogens in the water table, turn up the wattage on the spotlight already cast on industry. Lower your risk of violating regulations and reduce operating costs by keeping abreast of the latest air-pollution control equipment and technology. The terms below outline the main air-pollutant categories and the major methods you can use to fight them.
 

Particulate matter

That cloud of black smoke bellowing from a diesel exhaust stack is comprised of particulate particles, one micron or smaller, that float in the air, damaging air quality and causing health problems.
Try: Review Air Info Now for information about particulate matter and its harmful effects on the environment.

Hazardous air pollutants and volatile organic compounds

Also called toxic air pollutants or air toxics, hazardous air pollutants (HAP) are chemical compounds known to cause health problems including cancer. Most frequently a byproduct of paint and pharmaceutical industries, volatile organic compounds (VOC) are chemical compounds that, due to their high pressure and low water solubility, can be difficult to remove from the manufacturing process; as such, they commonly infiltrate and contaminate groundwater.
Try: Refer to the EPA for a definition and list of pollutants classified as HAPs. The USGS summarizes VOCs by general definition and in their most common forms.

Precipitator

A precipitator, sometimes called an electrostatic precipitator or electrostatic air cleaner, is a device that removes particulates by causing them to become heavier than the air they're floating in.
Try: Visit Neundorfer for basic knowledge on what a precipitator does. Envitech explains the use of ionized discs to create a highly efficient electric field that attracts the pollutants using a smaller surface area, allowing you to install a smaller, less expensive pollution control unit.

Scrubbing

Using a fine chemical mist or semi-dry slurry to remove gases or acids from your exhaust, scrubbing can be less efficient than other methods and you still have to dispose of the contaminated residual mix left over from the process. In application, scrubbers are most often used to separate a soluble gas from other gases but do work to separate liquids from a gas as well.
Try: Chemical Engineers Resource Page explains how various scrubbers work, depending on what you need removed from the exhaust air.

Thermal oxidation

Thermal oxidation is used to convert toxic VOCs into non-hazardous carbon dioxide and water vapor by introducing heat and oxygen into a chamber holding the VOCs.
Try: NESTEC walks you though an oxidation process that uses heat transfer technology for less expensive conversion of VOCs and HAPs.

Adsorption

Adsorption weakly binds pollutants to a surface, compared to absorption, which fills in the pores of a permeable surface. Adsorption is effective on materials with heavy color or odor, or with mineral content like mineral oils.
Try: Lenntech describes how to engineer activated carbon into effective adsorption material.