Source apportionment and ozone formation potential of volatile organic compounds in Lagos (Nigeria)

Concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of the city air in Oba Akran road, Lagos were investigated. The chlorinated VOCs and xylene in Oba Akran were high. The average benzene/toluene ratio in Oba Akran was 1.7 suggesting that vehicular emission was a possible VOC source in most areas of Oba Akran. The toluene/(m+p-xylene) ratio also suggests a common source of toluene and xylene at these sites, presumably organic solvent used by industries located at Oba Akran. Our results showed that 7.10 tons of CO (2) equivalents of VOCs are being emitted per year from Oba Akran. Xylenes were found to be the largest contributor to the ozone formation followed by trichloroethylene. A multivariate statistical analysis (Factor analysis extracted with Principal Component Analysis) has been applied to a set of data, and it was found that the main principal components, extracted from the air VOC pollution data, were related to gasoline and oil combustion/industrial activities.