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Thursday, May 11, 2023

05-11-2023-0311 - smog towers ; smog ; smoke fog (draft)

Smog towers or smog free towers (see below for other names) are structures designed as large-scale air purifiers to reduce air pollution particles (smog). This approach to the problem of urban air pollution involves air filtration, and removal of suspended mechanical particulates such as soot, and requires energy or power. Another approach is to remove urban air pollution by a chimney effect in a tall stack, or updraft tower, which may be either filtered or simply released at altitude as with a solar updraft tower, and which may not require operating energy beyond what may be produced by the updraft. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smog_tower

Smog, or smoke fog, is a type of intense air pollution. The word "smog" was coined in the early 20th century, and is a portmanteau of the words smoke and fog[1] to refer to smoky fog due to its opacity, and odor.[2] The word was then intended to refer to what was sometimes known as pea soup fog, a familiar and serious problem in London from the 19th century to the mid-20th century. This kind of visible air pollution is composed of nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxide, ozone, smoke and other particulates. Man-made smog is derived from coal combustion emissions, vehicular emissions, industrial emissions, forest and agricultural fires and photochemical reactions of these emissions.

Smog is often categorized as being either summer smog or winter smog. Summer smog is primarily associated with the photochemical formation of ozone. During the summer season when the temperatures are warmer and there is more sunlight present, photochemical smog is the dominant type of smog formation. During the winter months when the temperatures are colder, and atmospheric inversions are common, there is an increase in coal and other fossil fuel usage to heat homes and buildings. These combustion emissions, together with the lack of pollutant dispersion under inversions, characterize winter smog formation. Smog formation in general relies on both primary and secondary pollutants. Primary pollutants are emitted directly from a source, such as emissions of sulfur dioxide from coal combustion. Secondary pollutants, such as ozone, are formed when primary pollutants undergo chemical reactions in the atmosphere.

Photochemical smog, as found for example in Los Angeles, is a type of air pollution derived from vehicular emission from internal combustion engines and industrial fumes. These pollutants react in the atmosphere with sunlight to form secondary pollutants that also combine with the primary emissions to form photochemical smog. In certain other cities, such as Delhi, smog severity is often aggravated by stubble burning in neighboring agricultural areas since 2002. The atmospheric pollution levels of Los Angeles, Beijing, Delhi, Lahore, Mexico City, Tehran and other cities are often increased by an inversion that traps pollution close to the ground. The developing smog is usually toxic to humans and can cause severe sickness, a shortened life span, or premature death. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smog

Pea soup fog (also known as a pea souper, black fog or killer fog) is a very thick and often yellowish, greenish or blackish fog caused by air pollution that contains soot particulates and the poisonous gas sulphur dioxide. This very thick smog occurs in cities and is derived from the smoke given off by the burning of soft coal for home heating and in industrial processes. Smog of this intensity is often lethal to vulnerable people such as the elderly, the very young (infants) and those with respiratory problems. The result of these phenomena was commonly known as a London particular or London fog; in a reversal of the idiom, "London particular" became the name for a thick pea and ham soup.[1] 

Piccadilly Circus during the Great Smog of London, 1952

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pea_soup_fog


 

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