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Green Six Sigma and Green Transports
Published in Ron Basu, The Green Six Sigma Handbook, 2023
There is also pollution from particulate matter or PM2.5. Inhalation of particulate pollution can have severe longer-term health impacts such as the age-specific mortality risk, particularly from cardiovascular causes. However, its damaging effects can be fatal regardless of age; in December 2020 a coroner ruled that the death of 9-year-old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, who lived very close to the South Circular Road in Lewisham, south-east London, was in part attributable to high levels of air pollution. This landmark ruling meant that Ella became the first person in the UK to have ‘air pollution’ recorded as a cause of death. In addition to it naturally occurring (e.g. volcanic eruptions and wildfires), PM2.5 is produced by human activities (e.g. emissions from car exhausts). Therefore, clean energy initiatives for passenger vehicles will also eliminate the man-made emission of PM2.5.
Air, Noise, and Radiation
Published in Gary S. Moore, Kathleen A. Bell, Living with the Earth, 2018
Gary S. Moore, Kathleen A. Bell
Particulate pollutants include airborne particles in liquid solid form that range in size from visible fly ash greater than 100 micrometers to particles 0.005 micrometer in size (Table 10.4). Particles may be produced naturally, such as pollen or sea spray, or by human activities, such as industrial processes, agricultural activities, fossil fuel combustion, and traffic. Particulates include dust, smoke, soot (carbon), sulfates, nitrates, trace metals, and condensed organic compounds. Particulates produce a number of effects adverse to human interests including (1) respiratory and cardiac health hazards to humans; (2) the deposit of grime and soot on buildings; (3) the reduction in sunlight, thereby causing a regional or global coding effect; and (4) reduced visibility in areas of extensive smoke or particulate pollution.59
Application of an atmospheric tracer ratio method to estimation of PM2.5 emission rates from wheat conveying operations at a wheat pile storage facility
Published in Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 2020
Anna Potapova, Brian Lamb, Candis Claiborn
Particulate matter (PM), also known as particulate pollution, refers to a mixture of solids and liquid droplets suspended in the air and is one of the “six criteria” air pollutants (U.S. EPA 2018a). Particulate size and chemical composition have shown a strong correlation with negative health and environmental effects. Over the last several decades, numerous health studies have linked PM exposure to both short-term (hospital visits, premature mortality) and long-term (morbidity, lung cancer, cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary diseases) health effects. It has been shown that inflammatory injury, oxidative damage and other biological effects are stronger for fine (diameters of < 2.5 μm, PM2.5) and ultrafine (diameters of < 0.1 μm, PM0.1) particles since they can penetrate deeper into the respiratory tract, reach the alveoli and be retained in the lung parenchyma (Valavanidis, Fiotakis, and Vlachogianni 2008).
Seasonal variations of dustfall fluxes and biochemical parameters in the foliage of selected indoor plants in Delhi, India
Published in International Journal of Phytoremediation, 2023
Ankita Katoch, U. C. Kulshrestha
Occurrence of dust in air is influenced by many parameters such as wind velocity, moisture in soil, vegetation cover, and rainfall. Apart from naturally originating dust (forest fires, soil erosion, volcanic eruptions, sea salt, etc.) in the atmosphere, anthropogenic sources which generate particulate pollution such as fuel and biomass burning, building construction, industrial activities, resuspended dust, transportation, cooking also contribute to overall dust abundance worldwide (Chen et al.2018; Liu et al.2021). Presence of dust inside the built structures is usually composed of particulate matter which comes from both indoor and outdoor sources (Turner and Simmonds 2006). Emission of particulates may occur from multiple internal sources such as consumer products, routine activities of humans, smoking, incense burning, pets, and furniture and building material as well as entry of dust from outdoor environment through infiltration (Nazaroff and Weschler 2020). Various hazardous air pollutants (including heavy metals) get accumulated in the indoor environment via their deposition in indoor dust and hence, dust is a major pathway of human exposure to toxic particulates which is harmful to health (Al-Harbi et al.2021). Indoor dust could be responsible for unintended ingestion, inhalation, and subsequent accumulation of toxic substances by humans, in particular by kids. Chemical characterization of dust or particulates in the urban context reveals that urban particulate matter is a cocktail of anthropogenic ions such as NO3−, NH4+, SO42−, and heavy metals which constitute a considerable proportion of the total mass of particulate matter (Gray et al.1986; Shrestha et al.2010; Mishra and Kulshrestha 2017; Katoch and Kulshrestha 2021).
Removal ability of different underlying surfaces to near-surface particulate matter
Published in Environmental Technology, 2021
Zhang Yu, Yan Guoxin, Dai Liyi, Cong Ling, Wu Yanan, Zhai Jiexiu, Zhang Zhenming
One effective and environmentally friendly way to mitigate atmospheric particulate pollution is to use urban green systems such as wetlands and forests as filters [5,6]. Plants have a particular retention effect for PM due to the complex combination of the canopy structure and leaf characteristics [7,8]. There are three ways in which plants remove atmospheric pollutants: leaf absorption, deposition on the surfaces of leaves, and blocking PM on the leeward side of vegetation due to the slowdown of air movement. Within the canopy, leaf absorption is affected by plant factors (e.g. the forest cover, forest structure, tree structure, and leaf blade characteristics); above the canopy, dry deposition is affected by the meteorological conditions (e.g. precipitation, water erosion, wind erosion, temperature, and humidity) of the turbulent layer. The plant-blocking capacity of vegetation is primarily decided by the particle characteristics (e.g. the proximity to the source, PM concentration, particle size, and chemical composition) [9,10]. Wetlands influence PM deposition by changing the micro-meteorological conditions, for example, by increasing the humidity and reducing the ambient temperature [11]. In windy weather, droplets are also produced, affecting the rate of dry deposition [12]. Previous studies have reported that the dry deposition process to natural water surfaces is related not only to particle growth, collision, and Brownian diffusion but also to turbulent transfer, gravitational deposition, turbulent impedance, and surface impedance. For example, when the wind speed increases near the water surface, the coverage of the broken surface increases, the transverse turbulent transport efficiency increases, and the deposition rate of particles (especially small particles) increases [13]. In addition, aquatic plants can directly capture PM via leaf absorption [14].