ASSESSMENT OF AROMATIC VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS EMITTED FROM DIESEL ENGINES USED IN LOCAL FOOD PROCESSING MARKET, AGO, ISALE KOTO AREA, ILORIN, NIGERIA
Muhibbu-Din E.I., Ooroji V.E., Bassey D.A., Adepoju M., Sanni M.
ETRJ. Vol. 7(1), 30 March, 2022
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Abstract: Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene and o, m, p Xylene (BTEX). In this study,the impact of aromatic VOCs emission from diesel engines operation was investigated in a local food market.
The aim of this study was to assess the contribution of diesel engines to VOCs emission in a local food processing market, Ago, Ilorin, Nigeria, on workers, patronizers and inhabitants. Fabricated passive samplers were deployed at ten locations for both indoor and outdoor within the market at above 1.5m human breathing height containing 30gramms of activated charcoal each as adsorbent. The samplers were exposed for one month, the analytes were recovered by desorption process with carbondisulphide CS2 and subjected to Gas Chromatography fitted with flame ionization detector.
The VOCs concentrations found are ranged from 0.0021-0.0026 mg/m3 for Benzene; 0.0017-0.0023mg/m3 for Toluene; 0.0009-0.0017 mg/m3 for Ethylbenzene;0.00101- 0.00192 mg/m3 for Xylene for outdoor sampling while for indoor sampling the ranged are 0.0024-0.0031 mg/m3 for Benzene; 0.0018-0.0023 mg/m3 for Toluene; 0.0013-0.0023 mg/m3 for Ethylbenzene;0.00093- 0.00222 mg/m3 for Xylene. The averaged BTEX concentration at the indoor was higher than outdoor environment. The averaged concentrations of BTEX at all locations were lower than the limit of air quality standards. The mean lifetime cancer risk for workers, patronizers and inhabitants exposed to benzene and ethylbenzene for 25 years were estimated at 1.33x10-7 and 1.16x10-7 for indoor and outdoor respectively. Non cancer risks Hazard Index were estimated to be 1.11x10-5 and 8.74x10-6 for both indoor and outdoor respectively. Both cancer risk and non-cancer risk assessment are within acceptable limit.
This study established that significant aromatic VOCs are emitted from diesel engine exhausts and recommends hydrogen powered engines in place of diesel engines as to eliminate VOC emissions in local food processing industries.
