Monitoring and Evaluation of Air Pollution at Ohaji/Egbema Flow Station and Its Environs via GPS in Ohaji Egbema Lga, Imo State Nigeria

Abstract

The work of “Monitoring and Evaluation of Air Pollution” the main aim of this work is to measure the concentrations of gases which include CO2, CO, NOx, SOx and thermal radiation and carry out an analysis of the measured data. This experiment was scheduled to take place at Egbema flow station which is managed by NPDC (Nigerian Petroleum Development Commission) Shell location 2 in Obiakpu, Ohaji Imo state. The bad effects of these pollutant gases on the community can include cause of diseases to plants and animals, causes of physical ailments in the respiratory tract of humans, and death and degradation of the surrounding environment. The parameters measured during this exercise include the distance from the flow station, latitude and longitude of the distance measured on the earth’s surface, time for the experiment and the concentration of pollutant gases. The instrument used includes CO meter, CO2 meter, SOx and NOx meters, and thermal radiation meter. The gases were measured in three different time intervals between 10:50 am - 11:23 am (for CO: 0.02 ppm, 0.01 ppm, 0 ppm, 0 ppm, 0.01 ppm, 0 ppm; for CO2: 0.04 ppm, 0.01 ppm, 0.01 ppm, 0.02 ppm, 0.01 ppm, 0 ppm; for SOx: 0 mg/m3, 0 mg/m3, 0 mg/m3, 0 mg/m3, 0 mg/m3, 0 mg/m3; for NOx: 0.127 mg/m3, 0.098 mg/m3, 0.12 mg/m3, 0.122 mg/m3, 0.113 mg/m3, 0.103 mg/m3; for thermal radiation: 57.4 W/m2, 61.5 W/m2, 65.1 W/m2, 64.9 W/m2, 81.9 W/m2, 148.3 W/m2), 1:30 pm - 2:13 pm (for CO: 0.01 ppm, 0.02 ppm, 0 ppm, 0 ppm, 0.1 ppm, 0 ppm; for CO2: 0.01 ppm, 0.01 ppm, 0.01 ppm, 0.01 ppm, 0 ppm, 0 ppm; for SOx: 0 mg/m3, 0 mg/m3, 0 mg/m3, 0 mg/m3, 0 mg/m3, 0 mg/m3; for NOx: 0.122 mg/m3, 0.117 mg/m3, 0.114 mg/m3, 0.115 mg/m3, 0.122 mg/m3, 0.11 mg/m3; for thermal radiation: 120.5 W/m2, 132.8 W/m2, 156.7 W/m2, 170.5 W/m2, 148.5 W/m2, 95.1 W/m2) and 5 pm - 5:37 pm (for CO: 0.02 ppm, 0.1 ppm, 0.1 ppm, 0 ppm, 0 ppm, 0 ppm; for CO2: 0.03 ppm, 0.2 ppm, 0.1 ppm, 0.1 ppm, 0 ppm, 0.1 ppm; for SOx: 0 mg/m3, 0 mg/m3, 0 mg/m3, 0 mg/m3, 0 mg/m3, 0 mg/m3; for NOx: 0.128 mg/m3, 0.118 mg/m3, 0.119 mg/m3, 0.117 mg/m3, 0.124 mg/m3, 0.114 mg/m3; for thermal radiation: 121.4 W/m2, 133.3 W/m2, 160.2 W/m2, 177 W/m2, 161.4 W/m2, 97.2 W/m2) at distances of 0 m, 100 m, 300 m, 500 m, 1000 m and 1500 m respectively. From the values gotten from the gas concentration measurements, we can say that SOx gases are either minute or not available in the environment. Also, from the graph analysis carried out on the gases, we can also say that CO2 concentration is either increasing or at the same level throughout the distance while the concentrations of NOx, CO and thermal radiation reduce with increasing distance. On the part of the “averaging time model” used in the analysis, we can say that at increasing averaging times the concentration of gases reduces. Analysis of whether the environment is polluted and with which gas exactly is also carried out using the Air quality index and it was deduced that the environment is polluted with NOx gases because the concentration is above the normal environmental ambient temperature.