Cleaner Fuels, Cleaner Cities: Integrating Refinery Emission Technologies with Urban and Regional Planning in Nigeria’s Niger Delta Energy Transition
Abstract
The Niger Delta of Nigeria is a crucial zone where refinery emissions, urban development and energy-transition needs are contributing to air pollution and spatial inequalities that impede sustainable development. The study examines how advanced refinery emissioncontrol technologies can be integrated effectively into urban and regional planning frameworks for a cleaner energy future of the Niger Delta. The study uses a mixed-methods analytical design that integrates secondary refinery emission datasets with GIS-based spatial exposure modelling and a policy coherence evaluation that are guided by an energytransition conceptual lens. Analytical tables and conceptual figures are used in evidence. Findings reveal that the refineries presently in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna have significant emissions of SO₂, NOₓ, PM₂.₅, and VOCs, with urban dwellers being exposed to 1.8–3.2 times the levels experienced by those in peri-urban areas. Emission-reduction technologies which include flue-gas desulphurization, low-NOₓ burners, vapour recovery units, catalytic crackers, show removal efficiencies between 48% and 92% when fully deployed. These with existing use remain untapped due to governance gaps, lax enforcement of Petroleum Industry Act, and misalignment of refineries with spatial planning system. The authors suggest that pollution hotspots in Nigeria can be mitigated by integrating refinery technologies with urban planning, zoning, regional energy corridors, and environmental justice frameworks. The recommendations highlight emission-buffer zones, technology-linked planning codes, GIS-based monitoring mandates and refinery-city co-governance platforms. The study adds new know-how in the form of an energy – planning integration model specific to oil-dependent African regions and demonstrates how technology adoption can change industrial cities to be cleaner and more resilient.