ASSESSMENT OF VEHICULAR EMISSIONS ON AIR QUALITY AND PROXIMATE COMPOSITION OF AMARANTHUS HYBRIDUS AND MANGIFERA INDICA IN ZARIA, NIGERIA
ASSESSMENT OF VEHICULAR EMISSIONS ON AIR QUALITY AND PROXIMATE COMPOSITION OF AMARANTHUS HYBRIDUS AND MANGIFERA INDICA IN ZARIA, NIGERIA
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Date
2015-09
Authors
OKON, Idongesit Edem
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Abstract
Pollutants from vehicular emissions can cause negative impact on air quality and the
nutrients content of vegetables planted by the road side. This work assessed the impact
of vehicular emissions on the proximate composition of roadside Amaranthushybridus
and roadside Mangifera indica and the air quality of Zaria. The air pollutants analysed
were particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon
monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrocarbons (HCs). These pollutants were
measured during morning peak, evening peak and off-peak traffic periods. Traffic
count was carried out to determine the traffic density at all experimental sites (Rex
Junction, PZ Junction, MTD Junction and Kwangila Fly-Over). All the experimental
sites were at traffic hot-sports in Zaria. The proximate composition determined were
moisture content, fat content, ash content, crude protein content, crude fibre content
and carbohydrate content. All the pollutants from vehicular emissions except
particulate matter showed high correlation with traffic density at all the experimental
sites. The concentrations of all the pollutants at all the experimental sites were higher
than the concentrations at the control site. There were also higher concentrations during
traffic peak periods than during off-peak. At traffic peak periods, the highest average
concentrations of PM (213.00 µg/m2) and CO2 (348.00 ppm) in the air of Zaria were
below the Nigerian Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) limit of 250 µg/m2 and
600 ppm for PM and CO2 respectively. NO2, SO2 and CO average concentrations at
traffic peak periods were within the NAAQS limit range of 0.04 – 0.06 ppm, 0.01 – 0.1
and 10 – 20 ppm for NO2, SO2 and CO respectively. The average concentration range
of hydrocarbons (0.057 – 0.070 ppm) at traffic peak periods were higher than the
NAAQS limit of 0.05 ppm but was below the 0.05 ppm standard limit at traffic offpeak
period. This shows that all the air pollutants from vehicular emissions at the experimental sites in Zaria were either below or within the NAAQS limit except for
HCs. The mean proximate composition determined for Amarathushybridus cultivated
at each of the experimental sites was compared to the mean proximate composition of
Amarathushybridus cultivated at the control site and there was no significant difference
(P = 0.05) between the two, showing that vehicular emission did not have negative
impact on the proximate composition of the roadside Amarathushybridus. The
proximate compositions of the roadside Mangifera indica were higher than the ones
obtained at the Control except for the ash content that was significantly higher (P =
0.05). For the Amarathushybridus, moisture content, fat content, and crude protein
content showed high negative correlation with age, crude fibre content and
carbohydrate content showed high positive correlation with age while ash content did
not correlate with age.
Description
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POST GRADUATE
STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD
OF MASTERS DEGREE IN ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY,
FACULTY OF SCIENCE,
AHMADU DELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA
Keywords
ASSESSMENT,, VEHICULAR EMISSIONS,, AIR QUALITY,, PROXIMATE COMPOSITION,, AMARANTHUS HYBRIDUS,, MANGIFERA INDICA,, ZARIA,, NIGERIA