The following are all examples of how pollutants are released into the air:
- Through incomplete combustion*- this makes carbon monoxide and solid carbon.
- When fuel burns**, this makes sulphur dioxide.
- In engines when oxygen and nitrogen react together***, this makes nitrogen oxides.
*Fossil fuels burn to make carbon dioxide. Sometimes there is not enough oxygen to convert all the carbon in the fuel to carbon dioxide. This is incomplete combustion
**Some fossil fuels contain sulphur impurities. When the fuel burns, the sulphur reacts with oxygen to make sulpher dioxide.
***Nitrogen monoxide forms first. This reacts with more oxygen from the air to make nitrogen dioxide, in other words nitrogen monoxide is oxidized. Together NO and NO2 are called NOX.
Comments
No comments have yet been made