Updated Emission Factors from Diffuse Combustion Sources in Sub-Saharan Africa and Their Effect on Regional Emission Estimates

Diffuse emission sources outside
of kitchen areas are poorly understood,
and measurements of their emission factors (EFs) are sparse for regions
of sub-Saharan Africa. Thirty-one in-field emission measurements were
taken in northern Ghana from combustion sources common to rural regions
worldwide. Sources sampled included commercial cooking, trash burning,
kerosene lanterns, and diesel generators. EFs were calculated for
carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), as well as
carbonaceous particulate matter, specifically elemental carbon (EC)
and organic carbon (OC). EC and OC emissions were measured from kerosene
lighting events (EFEC = 25.1 g/kg-fuel SD = 25.7, EFOC = 9.5 g/kg-fuel SD = 10.0). OC emissions from trash burning
events were large and highly variable (EFOC = 38.9 g/kg-fuel
SD = 30.5). Combining our results with other recent in-field emission
factors for rural Ghana, we explored updated emission estimates for
Ghana using a region specific emissions inventory. Large differences
are calculated for all updated source emissions, showing a 96% increase
in OC and 78% decrease in EC compared to prior estimates for Ghana’s
emissions. Differences for carbon monoxide were small when averaged
across all updated source types (−1%), though the household
wood use and trash burning categories individually show large differences.