An Estimation of a trace gaseous emission factor from combustion of common fuelwood species in South-western Nigeria

Abstract

The current electricity shortage from Nigeria's national grid and the scarcity of refined petroleum products including kerosene which is used for domestic purposes make the use of fuelwoods more dominant in the country; especially in the rural areas. Air emissions from open burning of predetermined quantity of some common fuelwoods identified in regions were characterized for gaseous air pollutants using the E8500 combustion analyzer. The measured concentrations were used to calculate emission factors of the air pollutants. The emission factors for the gaseous emission from the fuelwoods were 181.84-6547.57 g/kg for CO, 44.07-2986.40 g/kg for HC, 2.24-267.36 g/kg for NOx while SO2 had 0.0-9.87 g/kg. This study establishes that Gliricidia sepium had the minimum emission factor for all the considered gaseous pollutants except for SO2, thus all stakeholders considering the adoption of fuelwood in the country's quest for increased energy mix can be properly guided on the pollutants associated with the investigated fuelwoods. This may help in the choice of appropriate air pollution control.

Drivers of anthropogenic air emissions in Nigeria - A review

“…About 1,217 tons/annum; 45,124 tons/annum; 167,570 tons/annum and 242,469 tons/annum of PM, SO 2 , NOx and CO, respectively were estimated to be contributed by the existing refineries. While air emissions are usually transported over a long distance in a plume by atmospheric dispersion processes ( Oladimeji et al., 2015a ; Okedere et al., 2017; Fakinle et al., 2017 ); research reports indicate that the impact of the air emissions from the Nigerian petroleum industry is largely felt in the Niger Delta region that houses the four existing refineries ( Sonibare et al., 2007 ; Sonibare, 2010 ; Oladimeji et al., 2015a ; Bebeteidoh et al., 2020). The per capita and land distributions were reported to be higher in this place than in the rest of the country ( Sonibare, 2010 ).…”

“…Prominent reasons adduced to the practice by practitioners are hunting for animals, clearing of farmlands for planting purposes, soil fertility improvement, facilitation of rapid growth of new pastures for nomadic farming ( Jamala et al., 2012 ; Ambe et al., 2015 ). Bush burning emits varieties of air pollution which could include CO, CO 2 , PM, NOx, SO 2 , VOCs, PAHs ( Fakinle et al., 2017 ; Izah et al., 2017 ; Okedere et al., 2017b ). There are no recent data documenting the contributions of bush burning to anthropogenic air emissions in Nigeria.…”

“…Combustion of fuels from domestic cooking is another vital contributor to atmospheric levels of air pollutants in Nigeria. Common domestic cooking fuels in Nigeria are fuel-woods, sawdust, charcoal, kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) (Fakinle et al, 2017;Ozoh et al, 2018;Giwa et al, 2019d). In Lagos alone, Fakinle et al (2020) reported an estimated fuel-wood usage of about 1,707,634,110 kg for year 2017.…”

The Search for Sustainability Amid Displacement: Exploring the Potential of Fast-growing Exotic Tree Species as Fuelwood Alternative for Refugees and Host Communities in Northern Uganda

“…About half of the world's population uses woody biomass as an energy source for cooking and heating (Fakinle et al, 2017). Estimates by the International Energy Agency (IEA) (IEA, 2017) indicate that 2.7 billion people rely on the traditional use of solid biomass for cooking, and it is projected that by 2030 2.3 billion people will still have no access to clean cooking.…”

Geospatial and Machine Learning Driven Air Pollution Modelling Using Vehicular Load and Climatic Variables in Agbarho, Delta State, Nigeria

“…In Nigeria, road transport accounts for nearly 90% of total petroleum product use [8]. Due to the full collapse of the rail transportation infrastructure over many decades, the amount of haulage trucks has expanded dramatically along highways [11]. In Nigeria's largest cities, scenes of uncontrolled haulage truck parks are prevalent with heavy-duty haulage vehicles observed to contribute significantly to ambient particle levels in areas like Ogere Park, Ogun State, with toxicity potentials above one in numerous cases [11].…”