PSI - Issue 74

Maciej Gruszczyński et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 74 (2025) 25 – 32 Maciej Gruszczyński / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2025) 000–000

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The gaseous air pollutants are: sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen oxides (NO x ), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), ammonia (NH 3 ) and non-metallic volatile organic compounds (NMVOC), Ramakrishnan et al. (2014). The sources of gaseous pollutants emitted into the atmosphere include: • Industrial plants where there are, inter alia, fossil fuel combustion, such as the cement industry, • Municipal heat and power plants, domestic boiler houses, • Transport: road, air, rail, shipping and • Natural sources such as forest fires, volcanic eruptions or putrefaction. Fig. 1 shows the total emission of the main gaseous air pollutants in Poland in 2000 and 2018, along with the percentage decrease in the emission of these pollutants (own study based on the statistical data contained in Statistics Poland (2021). Based on these data it can be seen that that carbon dioxide has the largest share in the gaseous pollutants of the atmosphere. But the total emission of NO x to the atmosphere is also huge and it was 762 thousand tons in 2018.

Fig. 1. The total emission of the main gaseous air pollutants in Poland in 2000 and 2018 (VNMOC – Volatile non-methane organic compounds).

The methods of reducing the emission of these pollutants are: appropriate design of industrial technological processes taking into account the reduction of pollutants (the so -called primary or clean methods), purification of waste gases (the so-called secondary or purification methods, among them it is worth mentioning: selective catalytic reduction, non-selective catalytic reduction, catalytic decomposition , adsorption and absorption) and neutralization of pollutants already present in the atmosphere, Statistics Poland The State of The Environment in Poland (2018). In the latter case, it is helpful to use the so-called "Anti-smog concretes". As for other methods of reducing pollution, 17.7 million tons (99.8%) of dust and 2.7 million tons of gases (excluding CO 2 ) were retained in devices to reduce air pollution in plants, particularly burdensome for air cleanliness in 2019. 92.1% sulfur dioxide, 72.8% hydrocarbons, 44.8% nitrogen oxides, 29.8% carbon monoxide and 39.9% other pollutants were among those retained or neutralized pollutants, Statistical data from Statistics Poland (2020). The composition of pollutants and their physicochemical properties are different due to such a large variety of pollution emission sources. The most common pollutants are: carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and suspended dust in urban and industrial areas, Ramakrishnan et al. (2014). Nitrogen oxides (NO x ) are a serious threat to living organisms. By NO x are meant all nitrogen oxides, but almost only NO and NO 2 are present in the combustion products. According to the World Health Organization, WHO (2003), of these two oxides, NO 2 is much more toxic. Nitrogen dioxide is a highly toxic substance with quick action both for humans and p lants. Its harmfulness is several times greater than that of carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide. It causes lung damage in humans, dilates blood vessels,