Azim Rabiei Mesbah; Soheil Sobhan Ardakani; Mehrdad Cheraghi; Bahareh Lorestani
Abstract
Background and Aim: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are a large group of ubiquitous environmental pollutants with teratogenic, mutagenic and carcinogenic potential, which are products of incomplete combustion and pyrolysis of fossil fuels and combustion of organic matter. This study was performed to ...
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Background and Aim: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are a large group of ubiquitous environmental pollutants with teratogenic, mutagenic and carcinogenic potential, which are products of incomplete combustion and pyrolysis of fossil fuels and combustion of organic matter. This study was performed to determine and identify the origin, concentration and source of PAHs compounds in surface soils of industrial areas, Hamedan, Iran, in 2021.Material and Methods: In this descriptive study, 36 surface soil specimens were collected from 12 sampling sites of industrial areas. After extraction of analytes based on the soxhlet method, the gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC–MS) method was used for the determination of PAHs compounds in the samples. Molecular diagnostic ratios (MDRs) were used to determine the origin of PAH compounds. Furthermore, the amounts of pH, electrical conductivity (EC) and total organic carbon (TOC) parameters of soil samples were measured. Statistical data processing was performed using SPSS statistics 20 software. Results: The results showed that the total concentrations of 16 identified isomers ranged from 2417 to 16279 µg/kg with a median of 7675 µg/kg and with a dominance of 4-6 rings hydrocarbons (66% of total PAHs). Furthermore fluoranthene (Fla), pyrene (Pyr) and benzo(b)fluoranthene (BbF) were the most abundant compounds in soil and the average of compounds such as benzo(a)anthracene (BaA), benzo(b)fluoranthene (BbF), benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) and dibenzo(a,h)anthracene (DB(ah)A) were higher than MPC established by The Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (MHWS). The results of the MDRs method indicated that both pyrogenic and petrogenic sources are the origin of PAHs in the study area. Conclusion: The result of this study indicates the high impact of anthropogenic activities on the contamination of the study area with PAH compounds. Thus, appropriate soil remediation (especially bioremediation) approaches should be considered.
Mitra Mohammadi; Sepideh Ansari; Zeinab Asghari; Samaneh Najafi; Zohreh Mirzaei Niko; Elahe Khayyami
Abstract
Background and purpose: Vegetables are among the valuable foods. However, in addition to essential elements, they may contain toxins in excess of permissible concentrations, which has raised many concerns about the quality and safety of these products and human health. Therefore, the present study was ...
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Background and purpose: Vegetables are among the valuable foods. However, in addition to essential elements, they may contain toxins in excess of permissible concentrations, which has raised many concerns about the quality and safety of these products and human health. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effect of atmospheric pollutants of carbon dioxide, gasoline and acid rain on the resistance of basil and parsley.Materials and Methods: This factorial study was performed based on a completely randomized design with 3 replications and 54 treatments . In this study, CO2 with three concentrations of 0, 1000 and, 1800 ppm, gasoline with three conditions without adding gasoline, with ordinary gasoline and with the addition of super gasoline, and acidic solution at two levels of pH 4 and 6 were studied. It should be noted that distilled water with pH = 7 was selected as a control treatment.Results: The results showed that the concentration of 1000 ppm carbon dioxide increased plant yield by 178.63%, while its concentration up to 1800 ppm, led to the destruction of the plant in two days. It was also found that super gasoline due to the high-octane number and supplements in it has a less polluting effect (5.7%) on the plant than regular gasoline. In addition, no significant difference was observed between different concentrations of acidic solution on plant resistance. In this experiment, parsley showed more resistance to contaminants than basil.Conclusion: carbon dioxide than other pollutants and also its key role in global warming, we need effective management to promote public health and control the production sources of this gas in the atmosphere.