Health risks of exposure to air pollution in areas where coal-fired power plants are located: protocol for a scoping review.

INTRODUCTION: Coal-fired power plants are major sources of air pollution which impact human health. Coal combustion byproducts released into the air include particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide. Exposure to fine particulate matter is associated with increased risk of mortality. This scoping review will examine and summarise the current literature on the health risks of exposure to air pollution in areas in which coal-fired power plants exist. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This scoping review will be conducted according to the Joanna Briggs Institute methodological framework and reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. Five electronic databases (PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar) will be searched for relevant articles. Studies will be included up until 31 January 2024. There will be no restriction on geographical area. The searches will be limited to studies published in English. Title, abstract, full-text screening and data extraction of relevant articles will be done by two independent reviewers. Discrepancies will be resolved by group discussion. The findings will be presented in tables with a narrative summary. This review will consider epidemiological studies and grey literature that report on the health risks of exposure to air pollution in areas where coal-fired power plants exist. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: All data will be collected from published and grey literature. Ethics approval is therefore not required. We will submit our findings for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

Seasonal influences on surface ozone variability in continental South Africa and implications for air quality.

Although elevated surface ozone (O3) concentrations are observed in many areas within southern Africa, few studies have investigated the regional atmospheric chemistry and dominant atmospheric processes driving surface O3 formation in this region. Therefore, an assessment of comprehensive continuous surface O3 measurements performed at four sites in continental South Africa was conducted. The regional O3 problem was evident, with O3 concentrations regularly exceeding the South African air quality standard limit, while O3 levels were higher compared to other background sites in the Southern Hemisphere. The temporal O3 patterns observed at the four sites resembled typical trends for O3 in continental South Africa, with O3 concentrations peaking in late winter and early spring. Increased O3 concentrations in winter were indicative of increased emissions of O3 precursors from household combustion and other low-level sources, while a spring maximum observed at all the sites was attributed to increased regional biomass burning. Source area maps of O3 and CO indicated significantly higher O3 and CO concentrations associated with air masses passing over a region with increased seasonal open biomass burning, which indicated CO associated with open biomass burning as a major source of O3 in continental South Africa. A strong correlation between O3 on CO was observed, while O3 levels remained relatively constant or decreased with increasing NO x , which supports a VOC-limited regime. The instantaneous production rate of O3 calculated at Welgegund indicated that ~ 40 % of O3 production occurred in the VOC-limited regime. The relationship between O3 and precursor species suggests that continental South Africa can be considered VOC limited, which can be attributed to high anthropogenic emissions of NO x in the interior of South Africa. The study indicated that the most effective emission control strategy to reduce O3 levels in continental South Africa should be CO and VOC reduction, mainly associated with household combustion and regional open biomass burning.