Measurement of Atmospheric Black Carbon Concentration in Rural and Urban Environments: Cases of Lamto and Abidjan

Black carbon is one of the primary aerosols directly emitted from biomass known to have strong absorbing properties. The INDAAF and PASMU observational field campaigns which took place (2018) in Abidjan (urban area) and Lamto (rural area) allow the analysis of Black carbon concentration at different time scales through real-time measurements using an analyzer named Aethalometer AE-33. Results presented here show at Lamto: 1) for the diurnal scale an average of 1.71 ± 0.3 μg⋅m-3 (0.34 ± 0.09 μg⋅m-3) in the dry (wet) season;2) for the monthly scale an average of 1.14 ± 0.84 μg⋅m-3;3) on the seasonal scale, an average of 2.2 ± 0.02 μg⋅m-3 (0.6 ± 0.19 μg⋅m-3) in the dry (wet) season. The black carbon variation at Lamto is seasonal with an amplification factor of 85.6. Regarding the urban area of Abidjan, due to sampling issues, our analyses were limited to daily, diurnal and weekly time scales. We observed: a) at a daily scale an average of 5.31.± 2.5 μg⋅m-3, b) diurnal scale, an average ranging from 6.87 to 13.92 μg⋅m-3. The analysis indicated that emissions from urban areas are more related to social and economic activities, with weekday concentrations (7.24 μg⋅m-3) higher than concentrations over the weekend (e.g. Saturday 6.59 μg⋅m-3 and Sunday 6.00 μg⋅m-3). Moreover, BC concentration in Abidjan is quite noticeable compared to that of rural areas (Lamto). The ratio between the maximum values of the two areas is of the order of 5.86. In addition, concentrations in some urban areas are slightly above the daily threshold set by the WHO (10 μg⋅m-3). Therefore, the levels of urban BC concentrations are alarming whilst rural BC concentrations remain below daily WHO thresholds and are of the same magnitude as those of West African megacities. This study underlies that BC concentrations at Lamto are mainly related to biomass combustion sources while those from urban areas are related to traffic sources. The latter is permanently active, unlike those in rural Lamto, which is seasonal.

Use of the ¹³C/¹²C, ¹⁵N/¹⁴N and ¹⁸O/¹⁶O Isotopic Ratios of Theobromine and Caffeine in the Characterization of Geographic Origin

The aim of this work is to characterize the geographical origin of cocoa beans and coffee beans. This study aims to contribute to the traceability of raw materials in order to fight against falsification. For this purpose, we based our work on the measurement of isotope ratios in 13C, 15N and 18O. The multi-element isotope ratios have been evaluated as a means to distinguish fermented cocoa beans of different geographic and varietal origins. The isotopic ratios of 13C, 15N and 18O were measured in theobromine obtained from samples of fermented cocoa beans. Twenty-two (22) samples of different geographical origins covering the four mainland cocoa producing areas were analyzed on the one hand and on the other hand, 16 caffeine samples from various origins were also analyzed. The treatment of the values resulting from these isotopic analyzes by statistical methods, namely the principal component analysis (PCA) makes it possible to visualize the discriminations between the different origins. The most discriminating variables identified as responsible for the geographic and varietal differences were the δ15N, δ13C and δ18O values of cocoa beans and certain extracts and tissues. We have shown that the isotope ratios are correlated with the altitude and precipitation conditions encountered in the different cocoa growing regions.