Impact Of Fuel Burning On The Environment

Impact of Fuel Burning on the Environment Have you ever gone on a trip to a mountainous area? Can you feel the freshness of nature? Is it the same as what you feel when you are in an urban area, especially on the highway? Can you breathe comfortably on the road and feel fresh? On the highway we often feel hot air coupled with the fumes of motorized vehicles that we are forced to inhale. Did you know that the exhaust fumes we inhale are very harmful to our health? Did you know that hot air in urban areas is also caused by the burning of motorized ve hicle fuel, in addition to smoke from factories? In the following, we will discuss together about the gases from the burning of petroleum which are very harmful to human health. 1. Carbon Monoxide (CO) Carbon monoxide gas is a colorless, odorless, tasteless and non-irritating gas. This makes its presence difficult to detect. Even though this gas is very dangerous for health because at low levels it can cause shortness of breath and pale. At higher levels it can cause fainting and at levels over 1,000 ppm it can cause death. CO gas is dangerous because it can form compounds with hemoglobin to form HbCO, and this is toxic to the blood. Because what is circulated throughout the body, including to the brain, is not HbO, but HbCO. The presence of HbCO is due to the fact that the HbCO compound has a stronger bond than HbO. This is because the affinity of HbCO is 250 times stronger than that of HbO. As a result, it is difficult for Hb to release CO, so that the body and even the brain will experience a lack of oxygen. This lackof oxygen in the blood will cause shortness of breath, fainting, or even death. The source of the presence of CO gas is incomplete combustion of petroleum fuels. One of them is the combustion of gasoline, where the combustion that occurs in the engine, can result in incomplete combustion with the following reaction. 2 C8 H18(g) + 17 O2 (g) 6 CO(g) + 18 H2 O(g) Another source that causes CO gas, besides incomplete combustion of gasoline, is imperfect combustion that occurs in industrial processes, burning garbage, burning forests, airplanes, and others. However, the main cause of the amount of CO gas in the air is incomplete combustion of gasoline, which reaches 59%. Currently, experts are trying to develop a tool that functions to reduce the amount of CO gas, by designing a device called a catalytic converter, which functions to convert air pollutant gases such as CO and NO become harmless gases, with the reaction: 2 CO(g) + O2 (g) 2 NO2 (g) 2CO2 (g) Catalyst (Ni)ÿ N2 (g) + 2 O2 (g) 2. Carbon Dioxide (CO2 ) Like CO gas, carbon dioxide gas also has colorless, tasteless, and non- stimulating properties. CO2 gas is the result of complete combustion of petroleum and coal fuels. With the increasing number of motorized vehicles and the increasing number of factories, it means that the amount or level of CO2 in our air also increases. The presence of excessive CO2 in the air does not have a direct impact on humans, as CO gas does. However, the excess CO2 content causes infrared rays from the sun to be absorbed by the earth and objects around it. This excess infrared light cannot return to the atmosphere because it is blocked by the CO2 layer in the atmosphere. As a result, the temperature on earth is getting warmer. This causes the temperature on earth, both day and night, to show no significant difference or even be said to be the same. The consequences caused by excess levels of CO2 in the air are known as the greenhouse effect or the green house effect. 3. Sulfur Oxides (SO2 and SO3 ) Sulfur dioxide gas (SO2 ) is colorless, but has a very pungent odor and can be suffocating even at low levels. This gas is produced from the oxidation or combustion of sulfur dissolved in petroleum fuels and from burning sulfur contained in metal ores that are processed in the mining industry. The biggest cause of excess levels of sulfur oxides in the air is burning coal. The consequences caused by excess sulfur oxide are not directly felt by humans, but cause acid rain. The process of acid rain can be explained by the following reaction. a. Formation of sulfuric acid in moist air SO2 (g)+ H2 O(l) H2 SO3 (aq) b. SO2 gas can react with oxygen in the air 2 SO2 (g) + O2 (g) 2 SO3 (g) c. SO3 gas easily dissolves in water, in moist air it forms sulfuric acid which is more dangerous than SO2 and H2 SO3 2 SO3 (g) + H2 O(l) H2 SO4 (aq) Rain which contains a lot of sulfuric acid has a pH < 5, causing it to be highly corrosive to metals and hazardous to health. Apart from causing acid rain, sulfur oxides, both SO2 and SO3 , which are absorbed into the respiratory apparatus and enter the lungs, will also form sulfuric acid and sulfuric acid which are very dangerous for respiratory health, especially the lungs. 4. Nitrogen Oxides (NO and NO2 ) Nitrogen monoxide gas has a colorless nature, which at high concentrations can also cause poisoning. In addition, nitrogen oxide gas can also cause acid rain. The presence of nitrogen monoxide gas in the air is caused by nitrogen ga burning together with oxygen, which occurs at high temperatures. The reaction is: N2 (g) + O2 (g) 2 NO(g) When in contact with air, NO gas will form gas NO2 with the following reaction. 2 NO(g) + O2 (g) 2 NO2 (g) NO2 gas is a poisonous gas, red-brown in color, and smells like nitric acid which is very pungent and stimulating. The presence of NO2 gas of more than 1 ppm can cause the formation of substances that are carcinogenic or cause cancer. If you inhale NO2 gas at levels of 20 ppm it will cause death. As a precaution, in factories or motorbikes, the smoke exhaust section is added a nickel metal catalyst which functions as a converter. Its working principle is to convert polluting exhaust gases into gases that are not harmful to the environment or human health. The conversion process can be seen in the following reaction. 2 NO2 (g) Ni catalystÿ N2 (g) + 2 O2 (g)