Urban environments with high industrialization are infested with hazardous chemicals and airborne pollutants. These pollutants CO, O3, SO2, NO2, and PM can have devastating effects on human health, causing both acute and chronic diseases such as respiratory infections, lung cancer, and heart disease. Air pollution monitoring is vital to warn citizens of the health risks associated with exposure to high concentrations of these criteria pollutants. This study designed a low-cost IoT monitor to measure concentration levels of criteria pollutants emitted from transportation sources within Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology environs. Three monitoring sites, KNUST Tech junction, Ayeduase gate junction and KNUST campus junction, were identified as the locations within the proximity of the University for the Deployment of the monitor. Hourly and mean daily CO, NO2, O3 and SO2 concentrations at each of the three sites were measured for a week using the IoT monitor, when students were in school and when students were on vacation. The average daily CO, NO2 and O3 concentrations measured at the selected locations when school was in session and during vacation were presented on histogram. The mean weekly concentrations of CO, NO2 and O3 were also estimated as 13.2ppm, 0.277ppm and 0.106ppb respectively at KNUST Tech junction; 10.1ppm, 0.254ppm and 0.110ppb respectively at Ayeduase gate junction; and 8.0ppm, 0.415ppm and 0.100ppb respectively at the KNUST campus junction when school was in session. The results show that the concentrations of all the pollutants were higher and exceeded the EPA standards except for CO at KNUST Campus junction monitoring site. These high levels of emissions is an indication of a health concern for the students at the university and university authorities can device means of curbing it.
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Acknowledgements
Authors wish to thank KNUST electricians for assisting with the mounting of the IoT unit at the monitoring sites and civil engineering third year students for traffic count data collection.
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Benjamin Afotey
Benjamin Afotey
Department of Chemical Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST Kumasi, Ghana.
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Cite this article
Benjamin Afotey and Christina Lovely-Quao, “Ambient Air Pollution Monitoring and Health Studies Using Low-Cost Internet of Things Monitor within KNUST Community”, Journal of Machine and Computing, pp. 189-199, January 2024. doi: 10.53759/7669/jmc202404018.
