Emission factors[edit]
Main article: AP 42 Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Factors
Industrial air pollution emissions
Air pollutant emission factors are representative values that people attempt to relate the quantity of a pollutant released to the ambient air with an activity associated with the release of that pollutant. These factors are usually expressed as the weight of pollutant divided by a unit weight, volume, distance, or duration of the activity emitting the pollutant (e.g., kilograms of particulate emitted per tonne of coal burned). Such factors facilitate estimation of emissions from various sources of air pollution. In most cases, these factors are simply averages of all available data of acceptable quality, and are generally assumed to be representative of long-term averages.
There are 12 compounds in the list of Persistent organic pollutants. Dioxins and furans are two of them and intentionally created by combustion of organics, like open burning of plastics. These compounds are also endocrine disruptors and can mutate the human genes.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency has published a compilation of air pollutant emission factors for a multitude of industrial sources.[11] The United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and many other countries have published similar compilations, as well as the European Environment Agency.[12][13][14][15]