Assessment of air quality within a quarry site: Case study of Eziama Quarry SouthEastern Nigeria
Date
2016-09
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Federal University of Technology, Owerri
Abstract
This study involved an assessment of air quality within the vicinity of Eziama quarry site South-eastern Nigeria with respect to emissions from drilling/blasting, crushing and noise generating sections. Ambient air quality was monitored at five stations for three different periods (Jan, June and Oct) by sampling four gaseous emissions (SOx, CO, CH4, NH4), Particulate matter, noise and some meteorological parameters. Measurements of gaseous emissions were carried out with the aid of digital gas analyser, particulate counter for PM10, PM2.5, PM1.0& SPM. Digital sound level meter was used to measure noise level while multi-parameter digital anemometer for ambient temperature, relative humidity & wind speed.The measured parameters were found to be in the following ranges for hourly readings: Carbon II Oxide (CO) (0.6-1.0ppm), Oxides of sulphur (SOx) (0.10-0.226ppm), Methane (CH4) (0.066-0.08ppm),Ammonium (NH4) (0.01ppm) and particulates: PM10 (17.80-21๐g/ Cm3 ), PM 2.5 (34.4-36.4 ๐g/Cm3 ), PM 1.0 (29.8-32.6Cm3 ), TPM (100.706- 101.106ยตg/Cm3 ). The mean ambient temperature, relative humidity and wind speed for January were 33.380C, 54.98% and 2.88m/s; those of June were 32.840C, 55.52%, and 2.62m/s; while October had 33.280C, 55.74% and 2.92m/s respectively. The recorded mean values of noise for the three monitoring periods were 77.0, 79.16 and 79.72Db. Air Quality Index values for PM2.5 and SO2 in the study varied between a minimum of 49 and maximum of 147 showing that the health of workers who spend long hours around generating areas were at risk especially during monitoring periods.
Description
This thesis is for the award of Master of Science (M.Sc) in Geology, Environmental Geology Option
Keywords
Assessment, quality, quarry site, air, ambient, drilling, blasting, emission, Department of Geology
Citation
Nwannah, C. C. (2016). Assessment of air quality within a quarry site: Case study of Eziama Quarry SouthEastern Nigeria [Unpublished Master's Thesis]. Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria