The majority of the African continent is yet to experience rapid industrialization and widespread use of synthetic fertilizers. The mix of air pollutants are unique to the continent and often misrepresented in global inventories. We develop new inventories using the most up-to-date activity data and representative emission factor measurements and apply these to models like GEOS-Chem to determine the impact on the environment and human health.

Emissions of black carbon from charcoal production in Africa in 2014

People: Eloise Marais, Navya Dikshit

External Collaborators: Christine Wiedinmyer, Mike Hannigan

Tools: GEOS-Chem, UN Energy Statistics

New Datasets:

Inventory of pollutant emissions from the charcoal industry in Africa for 2014 and 2030. [Link to Data]

Surface concentrations of PM2.5 in Africa in 2012 and 2030. [Link to Data]

The DICE-Africa inventory of pollutant emissions from diffuse and inefficient anthropogenic combustion sources in Africa. [Link to Data]

References:

A. Bockarie, E A. Marais, A. R. MacKenzie, Air pollution and climate forcing of the charcoal industry in Africa, Environ. Sci. Technol., 54, 13429–13438, doi:10.1021/acs.est.0c03754. [Link to article]

E. A. Marais, R. F. Silvern, A. Vodonos, E. Dupin, A. S. Bockarie, L. J. Mickley, J. Schwartz, Air quality and health impact of future fossil fuel use for electricity generation and transport in Africa, Environ. Sci. Technol., 53, 13524-13534, doi:10.1021/acs.est.9b04958. [PDF]

E. A. Marais, C. Wiedinmyer, Air Quality Impact of Diffuse and Inefficient Combustion Emissions in Africa (DICE-Africa), Environ. Sci. Tech., 50, 10739-10745, doi:10.1021/acs.est.6b02602. [Link to article]

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