Assessment of Ambient Air Quality within the Vicinity of a Charcoal Production Site in Ogwanja, Sapele Main Market, Sapele, Delta State

This study was carried out to determine the air quality at a charcoal production site at Ogwanja, Sapele main market and environs in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria. To determine the air quality, an Aerocet 5315 and Aeroqual series-500 air quality monitor was used. A Garmin E-Trex 10, Wind vane and Anemometer were used to determine geographical location, wind direction and wind speed respectively. The air quality was analysed at 0, 525, 810, 1150, and 2050m from the vicinity of the charcoal production sites in Ogwanja, Sapele main market at a height of 1.5m above the ground surface.  The study revealed that the concentration of NO₂ were all above the WHO limit of 25µg/m³ except for stations S4 and S5 with readings 23 and 17.7 µg/m³ respectively. Similarly. The results obtained revealed the concentration of SO₂ were all above the WHO limits of 40µg/m³ except for S4 and S5 with readings of 32.3 and 18µg/m³ respectively. The results for CO, PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ showed that they were all above the acceptable limits of 4µg/m³, 15µg/m³ and 45µg/m³ respectively. The results obtained were subjected to ANOVA analysis and the findings revealed that there was no significant difference in the air quality between the sampling stations indicating that all air at sampling sites are polluted. The Pearson correlation analysis also showed a strongly positive relation greater than +0.9 between the parameters indicating that all pollutants could be originating from the same source. The study recommends that policies are urgently needed to ensure secure clean energy source for urban households and improved charcoal production facilities with noxious emission reduction features be adopted.