① Optimize the energy structure by utilizing clean energy sources such as solar, wind, and hydropower, as well as low-pollution energy sources including natural gas, biogas, and ethanol.
② Pretreat fuels, such as through fuel desulfurization, coal liquefaction, and coal gasification, to reduce the generation of air pollutants during combustion.
③ Upgrade combustion equipment and technologies, such as improving stoves and adopting fluidized bed combustion, to enhance combustion efficiency and reduce the emission of harmful gases.
④ Promote clean production processes, reduce or substitute high-pollution raw materials, and implement closed-loop recycling production models.
⑤ Practice strict energy conservation and consumption reduction, and advance comprehensive resource utilization.
⑥ Strengthen enterprise environmental management to prevent accidental emissions and fugitive (unorganized) release of pollutants.
⑦ Dispose of industrial, domestic, and construction waste in a timely and standardized manner, and effectively control ground dust.
Even after the above control measures, some pollutants from combustion and industrial production will still be released into the atmosphere. It is therefore necessary to strictly control their emission concentrations and total amounts to ensure they do not exceed the regional environmental carrying capacity. Major treatment methods include:
① Using various dust removal devices to eliminate smoke, dust, and industrial particulates.
② Purifying harmful gases through gas absorption towers/scrubbers, such as using alkaline solutions (e.g., ammonia water, sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate) to absorb sulfur dioxide, and employing catalytic reduction, adsorption, or absorption methods to treat nitrogen oxides.
③ Applying physical, chemical, and physicochemical methods such as condensation, catalytic conversion, molecular sieves, activated carbon adsorption, and membrane separation to recover useful substances from waste gases or render harmful pollutants harmless.
Plants serve multiple functions: beautifying the environment, regulating climate, intercepting dust, and absorbing harmful atmospheric gases. They can continuously purify the atmosphere over large areas and long periods. In regions where pollutants are widely distributed and relatively low in concentration, plant purification is particularly effective. Scientifically planning and rationally increasing green space in urban and industrial areas is a long-term, multi-functional, and important measure in the comprehensive prevention and control of air pollution.
The atmospheric environment can achieve self-purification through physical, chemical, and biological processes, including diffusion, dilution, oxidation-reduction (redox), and precipitation washout. Given a constant total amount of pollutant emissions, the spatial and temporal distribution of their concentrations is significantly influenced by meteorological conditions. By scientifically understanding the patterns of meteorological changes and making full use of the atmosphere's self-purification capacity, pollutant concentrations can be effectively lowered and the hazards of air pollution mitigated. For example, by rationally designing chimney/stack heights based on the aerodynamic and thermal variation patterns of the atmosphere at different regions and altitudes, pollutants can be rapidly diffused and diluted.
