Journal of Natural Sciences Research www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-3186 (Paper) ISSN 2225-0921 (Online) Vol.7 No.24 2017 62 Possible Health Risk due to the Environmental Exposure of High Levels of Lead in Exhaust Soot of Automobiles in Parts of Accra, Ghana Henry Kwadwo Hackman 1* Livingstone Gati 1 Andrew Gordon 1 Reuben Essel Arhin 1 Bernard Ofori-Yeboah 1 George Crabbe 2 1.Department of Science Laboratory Technology, School of Applied Sciences and Arts, Accra Technical University, Accra, Ghana 2.Nuclear Chemistry and Environmental Research Center (NCERC), Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Accra, Ghana Abstract Internal combustion engines produce soot as a result of incomplete gasoline and diesel combustion. Leaded exhaust soot emitted into the atmosphere has serious health and environmental concerns. Lead has been outlawed as an automotive gasoline additive in most countries including Ghana because of its cumulative toxicity in humans especially children and damaging effect on catalytic converters in automobiles. Nevertheless, leaded fuels are apparently being produced, imported and used illegally in some countries as octane rating booster because of its profitability. Refined gasoline and diesel are imported into Ghana through bulk oil distribution firms. This preliminary study assessed the level of lead in automotive exhaust soot from randomly selected automobiles in parts of Accra. Exhaust soot samples obtained from ten diesel and ten gasoline automobiles were collected for analysis of its lead concentration using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The results showed the presence of lead in 4(40%) and 10(100%) of the randomly selected diesel and gasoline vehicular exhaust soot respectively. The concentration of lead in the exhaust soot of diesel-powered automobiles ranged from 0.060mg/kg to 0.435mg/kg and that of the gasoline-powered vehicles recorded values ranging from 0.195mg/kg to 2.055mg/kg. With this rather high level of lead in the vehicular soot, it could be concluded that the exhaust soot can be a significant source of lead in the atmosphere in parts of Accra. Lead exposure is known to cause debilitating developmental and neurological effects in children and cardiovascular effects in adults. The high levels of lead in the exhaust soot may be attributed to the possibility of lead additives in the gasoline and diesel used by those automobiles. Regulators of the petroleum downstream industry such as the National Petroleum Authority must routinely test for lead in imported refined petroleum products and enforce the ban on the importation, sale and usage of the outlawed leaded fuel in Ghana. Further studies should be conducted on the levels of lead in air and blood lead levels in fuel dispensers, fuel tanker drivers and fuel loading workers of bulk oil distribution firms. Keywords: Lead, Exhaust, Soot, Gasoline, Automobile 1.0 Introduction Gasoline (petrol) and diesel are the major sources of fuel in automobiles, generators and industrial plants (Almeida, 2015). Internal combustion engines produce soot as a result of incomplete fuel combustion of hydrocarbons. Gasoline and diesel usage have serious health and environmental concerns when incompletely burnt and especially when they contain lead additives. Lead is a naturally occurring toxic metal found in the earth’s crust. Its extensive usage has resulted in significant human exposure and public health concerns in the world. Tetraethyl lead was added to gasoline to reduce engine knocking and boost octane ratings (Scott, 2011) but leaded-fuels has been outlawed in most parts of the world because of its cumulative toxicity in humans and damaging effect on catalytic converters in automobiles (Copper, 2015). Nevertheless, leaded fuels are apparently being produced, exported and used illegally in some countries as octane rating booster because of its profitability (Chung, 2013). Refined gasoline and diesel are imported into Ghana through Bulk Oil Distribution Companies. Leaded fuels were out-lawed in Ghana in 2003 by the enactment of the Petroleum Amendment Regulation L.I. 1732 and the regulation prohibited the production, importation, sale and usage of leaded gasoline. Pollution created by vehicular exhaust emissions from diesel and gasoline vehicles has become a great source of concern because of the health threat it poses to the humans, animals and plants particularly when it has lead in it. The major sources of lead emissions in the air are leaded gasoline, metal processing, mining, industrial wastes, lead-based paints, leaded aviation fuel and lead-acid battery (WHO, 2016). Lead exposure results in debilitating developmental and neurological effects in children and cardiovascular effects (high blood pressure and heart disease) in adults. The neurological effects in children include learning deficits, behavioural problems and lowered IQ. Adverse effects of lead exposure on kidney function, brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by International Institute for Science, Technology and Education (IISTE): E-Journals