An Emission Inventory of Pollutants

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Air Pollution

Though most people tend to associate air pollution problems with the advent of the industrial revolution, such problems in one form or another have plagued the human race for centuries. The earliest pollutants noted in the atmosphere were probably of natural origin: Smoke, fumes, ash and gases from volcanoes and forest fires, sand and dust from windstorms in arid regions; fog in humid, low-lying areas; and natural terpenehazes from pine trees in mountainous regions were part of our environment long before human induced (anthropogenic) problems came on the scene.

Indeed, several of the above-mentioned natural problems would surely have qualified as “air pollution” under this generally accepted definition of pollution of ambient, or outdoor air:

“Air pollution is the presence in the outdoor atmosphere of one or more air contaminants (ie dust, fumes, mist, odour, smoke or vapour) in sufficient quantities of such characteristics, and of such duration as to be or to threaten to be injurious to human, plant, or animal life, or to property, or which reasonably interferes with the comfortable enjoyment…. produce, their projected emission of pollutants and the frequency duration, and relative contribution of pollutant emissions from each source.

1.2 Emission factors and Emission Inventory

Emission Inventories Are Used To:

1. Plan developments in metropolitan areas.
2. Establish sampling programs and interpret the results of sampling activities
3. Establish emission standards
4. Provide basic input for simulation models.
5. Estimate air pollutant concentrations with various metrological conditions.
6. Establish baseline levels of air pollutant concentrations and to relate these to future trends.
7. Indicate seasonal and geographical distribution of air pollutants in a study area,
8. Assist in establishing priorities for a control programme.

1.3 Scope of Research

The proposed research is designed to obtain an emission inventory of pollutants in Enugu metropolis.

Emphasis will be placed on:

1. The identification and classification of the types of pollutants emitted into the community.
2. The identification and classification of the sources of these pollutants.
3. The determination of the quantity and quality of the material being handled, processed or burned.
4. The obtaining of emission factors of these materials and thus computing the rate of emission.
5. The comparism of the inventory with National ambient air quality standards.
6. The effect of pollutants on human health, plants, and on materials; and
7. The global implications of air pollution.

1.4 Data Collection

Relevant data figures and information for this study were collected from the Enugu State Environment Protection Agency-ENSEPA (emission factors for solid waste), by the use of questionnaires through personal interviews from field surveys and from literature sources.