Title: Environmental impact prediction of air quality in a food processing environment

Authors: Ogbonnaya Chukwu

Addresses: Department of Agricultural Engineering, Federal University of Technology, PMB 65, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract: An impact study of food processing factory in Nigeria on air quality of its environment was studied using a factorial experiment. The effects of three primary air pollutants (by-products of the food processing): nitrogen (IV) oxide (NO₂), carbon (IV) oxide (CO₂) and sulphur (IV) oxide (SO₂) on formation of acid rain also studied. These factors and their interactions in the predictive model showed significant impact on hydrogen ion concentration [H⁺], which is the key intrinsic parameter of acid rain. However, SO₂ had higher detrimental influence than the other pollutants. Statistical analysis of the experimental data showed that the predictive model is adequate for obtaining optimum conditions. Validation of the model gave a correlation coefficient of 0.9999 between the measured and predicted values.

Keywords: acid rain; air quality; environmental impact; food processing industry; air pollution; Nigeria; food quality; food safety; processed foods.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPTI.2008.021469

International Journal of Postharvest Technology and Innovation, 2008 Vol.1 No.3, pp.348 - 356

Published online: 27 Nov 2008 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article