Air Quality Management for Electroplating Industry for Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Maharashtra

Abstract

Electroplating is considered to be a major polluting industry because it discharges toxic materials and heavy metals through effluent like wastewater, air emissions and solid wastes. There are many registered electroplating units in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The quantities of gaseous wastes generated from these industries were estimated and the existing control and treatment techniques for these gaseous wastes were evaluated. Further, Air Quality Modeling (AQM) study was also carried out to predict the concentration of acid mist with the help of emission, characteristics of stack and meteorology. A Gaussian plume model based SCREEN View software was used to predict concentrations for two industries which showed that the acid mist emissions from stack were under the consented limits. Further, health impact survey was performed at 1km radius of the industry to study the effects of air pollution on human health. It showed that 47%, 40% and 57% workers near the electroplating industries are suffering from chest pain, eye irritation and breathlessness respectively. Clustering of electroplating industries in the MMR will improve the waste management in the region. Installation of efficient air pollution control equipment like wet scrubbers can eliminate the hazards caused due to acid mist emissions from electroplating industries.