Assessment of the concentration, health risk, and source of potentially toxic elements in soils around the Shahid Rajaee thermal power plant, Qazvin

Authors

1 M. Sc. student of Geology, Earth Sciences Faculty, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran

2 Assist. Prof., Dept. of Geology, Earth Sciences Faculty, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran

Abstract

This research aims to assess the concentration of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in the soils around the Shahid Rajaei Combined Cycle Power Plant, located 25 km from Qazvin. For this purpose, 25 topsoil samples (0 to 10 cm) were collected, and after sample preparation, the physico-chemical parameters of the samples (including soil’s texture, pH, organic matter, calcium carbonate and cation exchange capacity) were measured. The concentrations of PTEs were determined using an ICP-OES device after strong acid digestion. The obtained results indicate that the average concentration of PTEs decreases in the following order: Mn > Zn > V > Cu > Cr > Pb > Ni > Co > As > Sb > Cd.  Enrichment factor values showed that the studied soils are slightly enriched in Cd, Cr and Cu, and are significantly polluted with Pb, Sb, and Zn.  Correlation coefficient values, cluster analysis, and principal component analysis show that Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn are mainly from industrial activities, while As and Cd are probably entered into the soil through agricultural practice (i.e., application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides). Indeed, the highest concentrations of Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn are recorded in the soil samples collected close to the power plant station in the downwind direction (S-N and NW-SE), indicating that the power plant activity is a possible source of these elements in the studied soils. The health risk assessment of PTEs indicates that As, Cr and Ni cause a cancer risk to children through ingestion. The carcinogenic risks of As, Ni, Cr, Pb, and Cd through all the three exposure routes are higher for children than for adults.

Keywords

References

Alhajeri, N., Al-Fadhli, F., Aly, A (2019) Unit-Based Emissions Inventory for Electric Power Systems in Kuwait: Current Status and Future Predictions. Sustainability, 11: 5758.
Ali, H., Khan, E., Ilahi, I (2019) Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology of Hazardous Heavy Metals: Environmental Persistence, Toxicity, and Bioaccumulation. Journal of Chemistry,‌ 1-14.
Barbieri, M. J. J. G. G (2016) The importance of enrichment factor (EF) and geoaccumulation index (Igeo) to evaluate the soil contamination. Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 5(1): 1-4.
Barzegar Khaleghi, M. S., Shahsavan Markadeh, R., Ghassemi, H (2016) Thermodynamic evaluation of mazut gasification for using in power generation. Petroleum Science and Technology, 34: 531-538.
Bohn, H. L (1976) Estimate of organic carbon in world soils. Soil science society of America journal, 40(3): 468-470.
Cheng, K., & Heidari, Z (2017) A new method for quantifying cation exchange capacity in clay minerals. In SPWLA 58th Annual Logging Symposium.
 Cipullo, S., Snapir, B., Tardif, S., Campo, P., Prpich, G. and Coulon, F (2018) Insights into mixed contaminants interactions and its implication for heavy metals and metalloids mobility, bioavailability and risk assessment. Science of The Total Environment, 645: 662-673.
Elfaki, J. T., Sulieman, M. M., Gafer, M. A. and Ali, M. E (2016) Hydrometer method against pipette method for estimating soil particle size distribution in some soil types selected from Central Sudan. International Journal of Engineering Research, 2(2): 25-41.
Fiore, M., Magi, V., Viggianoa, A (2020) Internal combustion engines powered by syngas. Applied Energy, 276: 115415.
Ghrefat, H. A., Abu-Rukah, Y. and Rosen, M. A (2011) Application of geoaccumulation index and enrichment factor for assessing metal contamination in the sediments of Kafrain Dam, Jordan. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 178: 95-109.
Haynes, R. J (2005) Labile organic matter fractions as centralcomponents of the quality of agricultural soils: an overview. Advances in Agronomy, 85: 221-268.
Jiao, X., Teng, Y., Zhan, Y., Wu, J. and Lin, X (2015) Soil heavy metal pollution and risk assessment in Shenyang industrial district, Northeast China. PloS one, 10(5), p.e 0127736.
Kabata-Pendias, A. (2011) Trace elements in abiotic and biotic environments. Taylor & Francis. 468p.
Kumar Yadav, A (2021) Human health risk assessment in opencast coal mines and coal-fired thermal power plants surrounding area due to inhalation. Environmental Challenges, 3: 100074.
Mojaver, E., Sobhanardakani, S., Moattar, F., Jozi, S. A., Monavari, S. A (2021) Using a modified version of Airpacts model for estimating the damage posed by sulfur dioxide emission from power plants to urban and rural building façades (case study: Shahid Rajaee power plant, Qazvin Province, Iran). Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 193: 432.
Novozamsky, I., Lexmond, T. M., and Houba, V. J. G (1993) A single extraction procedure of soil for evaluation of uptake of some heavy metals by plants. International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry, 51(1-4): 47-58.
Patrick, L (2006) Lead toxicity, a review of the literature. Part 1: Exposure, evaluation, and treatment. Alternative Medicine Review, 11(1): 2-22.
Popek, E. P (2017) Sampling and Analysis of Environmental Chemical Pollutants: A Complete Guide. 2nd Edition - Paperback ISBN: 9780128032022 9 7 8 - 0 - 1 2 - 8 0 3 2 0 2 – 2. eBook ISBN: 9780128032039.
Qing, X., Yutong, Z. and Shenggao, L (2015) Assessment of heavy metal pollution and human health risk in urban soils of steel industrial city (Anshan), Liaoning, Northeast China. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 120: 377-385.
Rashed, M. N (2010) Monitoring of environmental heavy metals in soil and dust within the vicinity of industrial area in relation to vehicular traffic. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 173(1-3): 589-599.
Sharma, P., Sharma, N., & Pathak, H (2018) Soil quality parameters as indicators of air pollution caused by thermal power plants: a review. Journal of Environmental Management, 207: 193-207.
Sheng, Y. and Wang, Q (2019) Simultaneous variable selection and class fusion with penalized distance criterion based classifiers. Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, 133: 138-152.
Sparks, D. L (2003) Environmental soil chemistry: An overview. Environmental soil chemistry, 2: 1-42.
Sutherland, R. A., Tack, F. M. G., Tolosa, C. A., and Verloo, M. G (2000) Operationally defined metal fractions in road deposited sediment, Honolulu, Hawaii. Journal of Environmental Quality, 29(5):  1431-143.
US Department of Agriculture (USDA) (1997) Agricultural resources and environmental indicators, 1996- 97, Agricultural Handbook No. 712.
USEPA (1998) Risk assessment guidance for superfund (volume) human health evaluation manual. Washington. Office of solid Waste and Emergency Response, US Environmental Protection Agency, 1-89.
     Victor, A., Asaah, F., Akinlolu, F., Abimbola, E (2006) Heavy metal concentrations and distribution in surface soils of the Bassa industrial zone 1, Douala, Cameroon. The Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering, 31: 566–575.
Violante, A. U. D. N., Cozzolino, V. U. D. N., Perelomov, L. P. S. U., Caporale, A. G. and Pigna, M. U. D. N (2010) Mobility and bioavailability of heavy metals and metalloids in soil environments. Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, 10(3): 268-292.
Wedepohl, K. H (1995) The composition of the continental crust. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 59(7): 1217–1232.
Wu, S., Peng, S., Zhang, X., Wu, D., Luo, W., Zhang, T., Zhou, S., Yang, G., Wan, H. and Wu, L. (2015) Levels and health risk assessments of heavy metals in urban soils in Dongguan, China. Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 148: 71-78.
Xiao, C., Ye, J., Esteves, R. M. and Rong, C (2016) Using Spearman's correlation coefficients for exploratory data analysis on big dataset. Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience, 28(14): 3866-3878.
Zhu, G. F., Su, Y. H. and Feng, Q (2008) The hydrochemical characteristics and evolution of groundwater and surface water in the Heihe River Basin, northwest China. Hydrogeology Journal, 16(1): 167-182.

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 29 May 2023
  • Revise Date: 21 August 2023
  • Accept Date: 04 September 2023

Share

How to cite

Statistics