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Assessing the emissions of CO, SO2, and NOX and predicting potential zones of CO concentration from sugarcane factories in Egypt

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Abstract

Air pollution causes significant environmental and health problems around the world. The present study assesses the emission of CO, SO2, and NOX from six sugarcane factories (SCFs) in Egypt, which are using two dominant fuels, bagasse and natural gas. The detected CO emission and concentrations levels from the stacks of SCFs that used bagasse were higher (1751–3030 mg/Nm3) than those using a mixture of bagasse and natural gas (555 mg/Nm3), as well as natural gas only (169.2–246.5 mg/Nm3). The emission of CO is higher than permissible levels, but SO2 (2.5–26.5 mg/Nm3) and NOX (25.5–149.75 mg/Nm3) emissions in all kinds of fuels are within the permissible levels. Dispersion of CO in the ambient from stack emission from Kom Ombo SCF is simulated using the Ministry of Economic, Trade, and Industry Low-Rise Industrial Source dispersion (METI-LIS) model. The results predicted the higher risk zone (>10 ppmv) extends ~1 km around the KSCF and occupies the near middle part of the plume, but the lower zone (<0.1 ppmv) occupies the outer zone and extends for several kilometers. Measurements in the ambient air validated the predicted model, which revealed that people living in areas about 1 km south and west downwind of the KSCF are exposed to higher levels of CO concentration. Usage of bagasse in SCFs needs to be replaced by natural gas for the reduction in emission of pollutants. Moreover, pollutants emitted from the SCFs should be monitored periodically to control the emission for healthy environment.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, which helped us to improve the manuscript. The authors would also like to extend their sincere appreciation to Prof. Abbas Mansour, Professor of Environmental Geology and Former President of South Valley University for the support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geology Department, South Valley University, Qena, 83523, Egypt

    Mohamed Abdelkareem, Raafat M El Attar & Abdelmonsef Hassan

  2. Remote Sensing Lab, South Valley University, Qena, 83523, Egypt

    Mohamed Abdelkareem

  3. School of Business Administration, Baise University, 12 Zhongshaner Rd, Baise, 533000, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China

    Yao Tan

  4. Hubei Academy of Social Science, 165 Donghu Rd, Wuhan, 430077, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Yao Tan

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  1. Mohamed Abdelkareem
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  2. Yao Tan
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  3. Raafat M El Attar
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  4. Abdelmonsef Hassan
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Correspondence to Mohamed Abdelkareem.

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Communicated by Suresh Babu

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Abdelkareem, M., Tan, Y., El Attar, R.M. et al. Assessing the emissions of CO, SO2, and NOX and predicting potential zones of CO concentration from sugarcane factories in Egypt. J Earth Syst Sci 129, 91 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-020-1339-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-020-1339-7

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