Nitrogen Oxides

Nitrogen Oxides

            Environmental conservation involves the proper management of harmful substances like Nitrogen Oxides. Nitrogen oxides are produced from the combination of nitrogen and oxygen during combustion. The emission of Nitrogen Oxide into the atmosphere is associated with health hazards that need to be assessed. Toxicology can help in understanding the harmful effects of Nitrogen Oxide on humans, plants and animals. The power of science can be used to predict the harm that can be caused and how the harm can be caused. The main reasons for assessing the harmful effects of Nitrogen Oxide include the fact that different people will respond differently in the event of exposure, only certain levels of a substance can be termed as harmful and that the time of exposure may affect the extent to which a substance is considered harmful. The management of Nitrogen Oxide needs a clear understanding of the harmful effects, the victims of the emission of Nitrogen Oxides and the level of harm caused by the emission of Nitrogen Oxides.

Nitrogen Oxide is an end-product in the combustion of pure nitrogen in the presence of Oxygen. Nitrogen is an essential substance in the formation of the Ozone layer that protects the earth from harmful sun rays. However, excessive emission of Nitrogen Oxides is responsible production of ozone gases above the safe levels.   Ozone gases are only safe if their production fits the required amounts perfectly in the formation of the ozone layer. The existence of excess ozone gases in the atmosphere leads to the production of nitric acid that combines with the clouds to form acid rains. Nitrogen as a component makes the highest percentage of the air in the atmosphere. The high percentage of Nitrogen makes it readily available for reaction with other components when the need arises. Oxygen also occupies a significant part of the atmospheric gases and thus when an environment for combustion is available, Nitrogen Oxide is produced (Clean Air Technology Center, 2015). The reaction of Nitrogen Oxide with water leads to the formation of nitric acid that is useful in industries. Substances obtained from Nitrogen are not always associated with harmful impacts; Nitrogen Oxide can be used in the manufacturing process of different industries. First, the oxidation of ammonia to form nitric acid produces raw material for the manufacture of plastics, dyes, and medicines.  In the medical field, Nitric acid can also be used in the treatment of erectile dysfunction. Nitric acid is also used in the treatment of heart-related diseases.

Nitrogen Oxide is a major environmental pollutant. The functionality of automotive engines and thermal power-generating plants lead to the emission of Nitrogen Oxide which escapes to the atmosphere as a vapor, and after mixing with several secondary sources, acid rain is formed. More than a tenth of the world’s soil nitrogen is made up of Organic soils and is a significant global source of the greenhouse gas nitrogen oxide. The understanding of the underlying microbial production and consumption processes and how the product interacts with environmental drivers such as the microclimate, physics, and chemistry of the soil is not clear. Nitrogen Oxide is emitted as a by-product of incomplete nitrification. Nitrogen is primarily conserved as organic compounds (Pärn, 2018).  Soils are the largest source of Nitrogen Oxide and thus the prediction of soil response to changes in climate or land use helps to understand the management of Nitrogen Oxide.

Nitrogen Oxide is a harmful substance whose exposure may lead to health complications. Increased mortality has been associated with high concentrations of outdoor Nitrogen Oxide. However, the sensitivity of health impact caused by Nitrogen Oxide should be based on the levels of Hazard ratios since uncertainties may occur in during assessment.  The assessment of the impact of Nitrogen Oxide to health policies aimed at reducing long-term exposure to Nitrogen Oxide should use prediction intervals and report ranges of impact rather than focusing upon point estimates (Atkinson, 2018). Nitrogen oxide is a respiratory toxicant gas derived primarily from the oxidation of nitric acid. The main course of the serious impacts of Nitrogen Oxide may be associated with inadequate research on the effects of gaseous pollutants in the ambient environment on health outcomes from within low and middle-income countries. Therefore, conclusions and planning concerning the impacts of Nitrogen Oxides suffer from the setback of over-reliance on results from studies performed within high-income countries. Also, beneficial cardiopulmonary effects of walking in people with COPD, ischemic heart disease, and those free from chronic cardiopulmonary diseases can be prevented by short-term exposure to traffic pollution. The effects of air pollution in individuals with ischemic heart disease may be reduced by proper Medication.

Even though most Nitrogen compounds such as Nitrogen Oxides are viewed as environmental hazards, Nitrogen helps in the control of species composition, diversity, dynamics, and functioning of many ecosystems. Original plant species have adapted to function generally in soils with low levels of Nitrogen. However, the existence of Nitrogen Oxide ensures proper functionality of the nitrogen cycle. The process of combustion of nitrogen and oxygen can be reversed to obtain nitrogen in its pure form that can be utilized in the ecosystem. Also, the benefits of nitrogen oxides play a significant role in finding a solution to the ever existing issue of food security. The efficient productions of affordable fertilizers that have less harm to the environment have improved the food production sector significantly. However, increased food production has a somewhat related disadvantage to the food distribution cycle (Townsend, 2009). Excess food that is intensively fertilized is diverted to animal feeding. The diversion of human food into animal feeds leads to a disparity in food distribution leading to the issue of unbalanced diet which affects even the developed countries.

The emission of Nitrogen oxide from industrial processes should be controlled to maintain the gas under safe levels.    The management of nitrogen oxide emission should be done carefully to ensure that the benefits of the substance are not foregone at the expense of the harmful impacts. For example, the emission of nitrogen oxide from exhaust gases can be utilized by storing the immediate nitrogen oxide in a lean environment that supplements ammonia. The production of ammonia, which is less harmful, uses significant amounts of nitrogen oxide thus reducing the releasing of nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere. The nitrogen oxide emission in motor vehicle engines can be reduced by using alternative engine driving environment that provides an exhaust gas cleaning system with absorber catalysts (Cui, 2016). The catalysts increase the adsorption of nitrogen oxide into the operating phases of the engine driving environment thus reducing the emission of nitrogen oxide into the environment. Exposure to Nitrogen oxide is associated with adverse health complication. However, the response to the exposure happens differently among different victims. According to (HUW S. JENKINS, 2011), exposure to pollutants leads to an increased response to inhaled allergen in asthmatic individuals, which can be used as an explanation for the increased morbidity from asthma as shown in epidemiological studies.

Environmental regulations are forcing firms to pay significantly in an attempt to reduce emission. According to (Beer, 2012), complete combustion of nitrogen oxide is a cheaper alternative to save the firms from additional costs where the application of fluid dynamic principle of radial stratification by combustion is dampened by turbulence to increase the residence time of the fuel-rich hydrolyzing mixture before mixing with the rest of the combustion air to effect complete combustion. Inventions that aim to manage nitrogen oxide emission should, however, be done with considerations of the benefits of the gas. For example, an invention should be made such that, it proposes proper utilization of emitted nitrogen oxide and not simply doing away with the emission. Since the management of nitrogen oxide combustion is as expensive as dealing with the effects that would come with careless release of the substance into the environment, companies should always seek to find cheap alternatives of nitrogen oxide management. Regulations should also be set with international considerations since the effects of nitrogen oxide being released into the atmosphere tend to become a world issue and not merely a one country’s concern. Nations with well-laid management procedures will still suffer from the effects of ozone destruction if the neighboring countries release nitrogen oxide carelessly into the atmosphere.

In sum, nitrogen oxide is both a disaster as well as a blessing. The type of return obtained from nitrogen oxide lies in the hands of whoever is handling the emission of nitrogen oxide or the response from the victims. If the managers of nitrogen oxide emitting industries lay down efficient management procedures, nitrogen oxide becomes a blessing. However, if the managers to the nitrogen emitting industries carelessly dispose the substance, then nitrogen oxide becomes no way better than a disaster. Since different people will respond differently in the event of exposure, only certain levels of a substance can be termed as harmful and that the time of exposure may affect the extent to which a substance is considered harmful, the management of nitrogen oxide requires a proper definition of the source and victims. Therefore, management of Nitrogen Oxide needs a clear understanding of the harmful effects, the victims of the emission of Nitrogen Oxides and the level of harm caused by the emission of Nitrogen Oxides.

References

Atkinson, R. W. (2018). Long-term concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and mortality: a meta-       analysis of cohort studies. Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.), . 29(4), 460.

Beer, J. M. (2012). U.S. Patent No. 5,411,394. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark        Office.

Clean Air Technology Center (MD-12). (2015). Nitrogen Oxides (NOx),Why and How They       Are Controlled . 34-45.

Cui, Y. B. (2016). Top-down estimates of methane and nitrogen oxide emissions from shale gas   production regions using aircraft measurements and a mesoscale Bayesian inversion      system together with a flux ratio inversion technique. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts.

HUW S. JENKINS, J. D. (2011). The Effect of Exposure to Ozone and Nitrogen Dioxide on the            Airway Response of Atopic Asthmatics to Inhaled Allergen.

Pärn, J. V.-B. (2018). Nitrogen-rich organic soils under warm well-drained conditions are global   nitrous oxide emission hotspots. Nature communications, . 9(1), 1135.

Townsend, A. R. (2009). Human health effects of a changing global nitrogen cycle. Frontiers in   Ecology and the Environment, . 1(5), 240-246.