2019 – Posted in: Daily News – Tags: Flue-gas desulfurization

INDIA BECOMING WORLD’S BIGGEST SULPHUR DIOXIDE EMITTER

For: Preliminary & Mains

Topics covered:

What is anthropogenic sulphur dioxide?
How India becomes the largest emitter of SO2?
SO2 emission
Health and environmental effects
Flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) technology
Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) satellite

News Flash

According to an analysis of NASA data released by environmental NGO Greenpeace, India is the world’s largest emitter of anthropogenic sulphur dioxide, which is produced from coal burning, and greatly contributes to air pollution.

India has more than 15% of all anthropogenic sulphur dioxide (SO2) hotspots in the world detected by the OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) satellite.

As per country-wise world rankings, India was found at the top position in emitting SO2 as it has the maximum hotspots.

Ozone Monitoring Instrument

The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) instrument can distinguish between aerosol types, such as smoke, dust, and sulfates, and measures cloud pressure and coverage, which provides data to derive tropospheric ozone.

OMI measures criteria pollutants such as O3, NO2, SO2, and aerosols. It measures the total column amount of atmospheric ozone NO2 as well as lower atmospheric dust, smoke, and other aerosols.

OMI detects volcanic ash and sulfur dioxide produced in volcanic eruptions. It also measures ozone profiles (in the UV).

Highlights

Five of the top 10 SO2 emission hotspots from the coal/power generation industry across the world are in India.
The major SO2 emission hotspots in India are Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh, Neyveli and Chennai in Tamil Nadu, Talcher and Jharsuguda in Odisha, Korba in Chhattisgarh, Kutch in Gujarat, Ramagundam in Telangana and Chandrapur and Koradi in Maharashtra.
The vast majority of plants in India lack flue-gas desulfurization technology to reduce their air pollution.
Norilsk smelter complex in Russia being the largest SO2 emission hotspot in the world, followed by Kriel in Mpumalanga province in South Africa and Zagroz in Iran.
Environment experts called for strict action on coal power plants.
The country (India) is facing an air pollution emergency as power plants yet not comply with pollution limits.
The largest source of SO2 in the atmosphere is the burning of fossil fuels in power plants and other industrial facilities.
China reduced their SO2 emissions through stringent emission norms and implementation of technologies like FGD.

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had, for the first time, introduced SO2 emission limits for coal-fired power plants in December 2015.

Supreme Court order changed the deadline for the installation of FGD technology in power plants from 2017 to December 2019 in Delhi-NCR and till 2022 for other parts of the country.

Flue-gas desulfurization (FGD)

FGD is a set of technologies used to remove sulfur dioxide (SO2) from exhaust flue gases of fossil-fuel power plants, and from the emissions of other sulfur oxide emitting processes.

SO2 emissions

Sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions are a significant contributor to air pollution. Its direct exposure and exposure to particulate matter PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) produced when SO2 reacts with other air pollutants to form sulphate particles both affect human health.

The greatest source of SO2 in the atmosphere is the burning of fossil fuels in power plants and other industrial facilities.

Other sources include industrial processes such as extracting metal from ore, natural sources such as volcanoes, and locomotives, ships and other vehicles and heavy equipment that burn fuel with high sulphur content.

Source: The Hindu

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