• Sunday Tarekakpo Odobai
• Eniye Oguta
• Nelson Preye Toun-Aregha

Environmental concerns call for the need for the world to start running completely on cleaner energy sources. However, the advocacies from various quarters calling for quick jettisoning of any other energy sources and leaving only those with negligible or no carbon emission potentials in the energy mix is totally unrealistic, as even a gradual transition process is faced with various challenges. There is therefore, the need to holistically address the various issues in terms of social, economic, energy efficiency, technological switch and associated cost, and energy affordability. Natural gas is a cleaner alternative with minimal carbon emission and global warming potential (GWP). It is also cheaper to process and affordable to most of the populace than most other energy sources. It can therefore be inferred that the demand for natural gas remains high given to these benefits. These advantages of natural gas over other fossil fuels can be leveraged to address the challenges facing the complete transition to zero carbon energy sources. In this work, the key factors influencing transition to low carbon energy which has been discussed in the literature were reviewed, these include political, socioeconomic, and climate change. The work also considers how natural gas will contribute in the process of transiting to the use of cleaner energy sources. To further support and justify the views, which is this research focus, we developed mathematical models that closely describe natural gas production and demand patterns in Africa, and also conducted process Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) to quantify and compare the environmental impacts of natural gas energy and other fossil fuels in the region, using their diesel equivalences. It was found that natural gas poses far lesser environmental consequences compared to other fossil energy sources. Specifically, the region could be saved of over 155 thousand metric tonnes of CO2 emission daily if the current use of other fossil fuels are completely replaced with natural gas. Hence, if the main challenge associated with natural gas, which is methane leakage, is eliminated, natural gas will continue to play a vital role in the long term, in the future energy mix.

Production and Demand Model, Environmental Life Cycle Assessment, Cradle to Grave, Process Engineering Approach, CO2 Emission, Global Warming Potential.

"ANALYSIS AND PROCESS EVALUATION OF THE SUSTAINABILITY AND IMPACT OF NATURAL GAS IN AFRICA", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.9, Issue 2, page no.c161-c167, February-2022, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2202240.pdf

"ANALYSIS AND PROCESS EVALUATION OF THE SUSTAINABILITY AND IMPACT OF NATURAL GAS IN AFRICA", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.9, Issue 2, page no. ppc161-c167, February-2022, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2202240.pdf