Alireza Saffari; Syed Ghafoor Alavi
Abstract
Background and purpose: Soils in northwest Meshginshahr, influenced by alteration and mineralization processes, exhibit elevated concentrations of toxic and heavy elements, resulting in significant pollution. This study evaluates the environmental sources of soil contamination in alteration and mineralization ...
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Background and purpose: Soils in northwest Meshginshahr, influenced by alteration and mineralization processes, exhibit elevated concentrations of toxic and heavy elements, resulting in significant pollution. This study evaluates the environmental sources of soil contamination in alteration and mineralization zones within the region.Materials and Methods: A combination of library-based research and field investigations was utilized. Hydrographic maps of the region were prepared using topographic maps (1:250,000 and 1:50,000) and aerial photographs (1:20,000). Soil sampling targeted agricultural, orchard, rangeland, and barren soils overlying rocks and mineralized zones, with 70 selective surface soil samples collected from the root penetration zone. Each sample (~1 kg) was divided, retaining 500 g as a reference and sending the remaining portion for chemical analysis. Concentrations of 47 critical elements were determined using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).Results: Comparison of soil analysis data with environmental standards revealed significant contamination, particularly with gold, iron, vanadium, sulfur, and arsenic, alongside other elements exceeding permissible limits. The pollution index (PI) indicated that 55.7% of the samples were classified as polluted (PI > 1).Conclusion: The alignment of elemental concentrations with environmental standards, enrichment factors, and pollution indices suggests extensive pollution in the studied soils. Mitigation strategies, including soil excavation and relocation, physical remediation (e.g., soil washing and flushing), and biological remediation (e.g., slurry bioremediation, in-situ/ex-situ stabilization, and resistance-based bioremediation), are recommended to address the contamination. Open Access Policy: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Ehsan Houshyar
Abstract
Background and Purpose: Due to the high pollutant load and high volume of wastewater from starch production factories, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the efficiency of hydrated lime and aluminum sulfate to decrease contaminants of starch wastewater to successful wastewater treatment ...
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Background and Purpose: Due to the high pollutant load and high volume of wastewater from starch production factories, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the efficiency of hydrated lime and aluminum sulfate to decrease contaminants of starch wastewater to successful wastewater treatment in the main wastewater treatments plants.Materials and Methods: The investigation was conducted during 2022 and 2023 over 16 months to improve the operational effectiveness of the wastewater treatment plant at a starch manufacturing factory in Fars province. The optimum dosage of two coagulants, i.e. lime and aluminum sulfate, were tested. Various pollutants were under study, such as chemical oxygen demand and biological oxygen demand, etc. The statistical analysis was conducted in SPSS 22 using Dunkan analysis (α = 0.01).Results: The effectiveness of removing pollutants was improved while lime and aluminum sulfate rose from 20 mg/L to 40-60 mg/L. The removal efficiency of pollutants was almost constant and enhanced lower than 10% while coagulants were applied higher than 60 mg/L. The optimum lime and aluminum sulfate dosage was 40 mg/L and 20 mg/L, respectively. Following the application of coagulants, there was a notable reduction in the levels of pollutants and organic loading rate by 65% which led to an enhancement in the performance of the wastewater treatment plant.Conclusion: The coagulation and sedimentation with lime and aluminum sulfate can be utilized for successful starch wastewater treatment. These materials are cost-effective and easily accessible which justifies them as a desirable option for factories seeking wastewater treatment solutions. Open Access Policy: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Akram Ghorbani; Mohammad javad Alipoor; Mohammad Ghafoori
Abstract
Background and Purpose: Distribution of heavy metals in all types of sediments is one of the important and new topics in environmental sedimentology. This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the amount of factor pollution, concentration of cadmium and lead metals, geochemical accumulation ...
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Background and Purpose: Distribution of heavy metals in all types of sediments is one of the important and new topics in environmental sedimentology. This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the amount of factor pollution, concentration of cadmium and lead metals, geochemical accumulation index and ecological risk category in the soil downstream of Taibad Landfill.materials and methods: 15 stations were selected at a distance of 100 meters from each other and along the waterway exiting the site from a distance of 100 to 1500 meters. After sampling 5 samples and repeating 3 times from each station, the samples were taken to the laboratory for analysis.Results: In stations 2 and 6, because the pollution factors (CF) are between 1 and 3, the level of pollution in these stations is average, in station 10 it is very high, and for the rest of the stations, because the pollution factors are between 3 and 6, the level of pollution is high. For cadmium metal, the pollution factor (CF) in all stations is between 3 and 6 and the pollution is high. Based on the results, the amount of lead and cadmium metals in the risk category They are ecologically average.Conclusion: The amount of lead metal pollution in station 2 and 6 is moderate, station 3 is very high and in other stations it is high. Cadmium metal contamination was reported in all stations. Both metals are in the medium category in terms of ecological risk.The concentration mentioned metals in the soil downstream of the landfill is significantly higher than the global soil average and the earth's crust. It seems that this pollution is caused by the landfill, which was spread to the downstream lands by seasonal runoff
Mohsen Mohammadi; Ali Akbar Hedayati; Mohammad Forouhar Vajargah; Ahmad Reza Pirali; Maryam Fallah
Abstract
Background and Aim: Sediment monitoring in aquatic environments is very important due to long-term exposure of various pollutants. This study was conducted to monitor the pollution of some heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb and Zn) in the surface sediments of Anzali wetland.Materials and Methods: For this ...
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Background and Aim: Sediment monitoring in aquatic environments is very important due to long-term exposure of various pollutants. This study was conducted to monitor the pollution of some heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb and Zn) in the surface sediments of Anzali wetland.Materials and Methods: For this purpose, sediment samples were collected from east, west and central parts of the wetland in different seasons of 2020. Heavy metals contamination zoning for sediments in the study area was performed using Arc GIS 10.7Results: The results showed that the highest level of contaminants were obtained in the western part of the wetland. The average concentrations of heavy metals in the sediments were related to Cu (18.47), Zn (74.15), Cd (0.67), Pb (12.05) and Fe (1.97) mg. kg-1 in the western part. The pattern of changes of studied metals was in conformity with Cd 0.05) between Pb, Cu and Zn. According to the zoning map of the parts located in the middle of the center to the west of the wetland, higher amounts of metals have been deposited in its sediments.Conclusion: In general, various human activities and the development of industries and the existence of agricultural lands in the area of Anzali Wetland and incoming rivers can be considered as factors affecting pollution. Therefore, with continuous biological and ecological monitoring of the wetland, it is possible to estimate the amount of heavy metals and the share of each in the wetland. Also, management in order to protect and monitor the wetland seems necessary.
Iman Shahidi Kaviani; Parvaneh Paykanpoufard
Abstract
Background and purpose: Population growth leads to the expansion of industries and improper management of industries leads to land pollution and irreparable damage to nature and living organisms. Therefore, studying the role of industrial centers in environmental pollution, including soil, is one of ...
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Background and purpose: Population growth leads to the expansion of industries and improper management of industries leads to land pollution and irreparable damage to nature and living organisms. Therefore, studying the role of industrial centers in environmental pollution, including soil, is one of the most important measures in the field of pollution control. The aim of this study was to evaluate the rate of surface soil contamination with heavy metals exposed to the oil industry. Materials and methods: In this study, to measure the rate of heavy metals, a total of 15 soil samples were taken from 5 stations with 3 replications and from depth of 0-30 cm. Heavy element measurements were performed by induction coupled plasma spectroscopy. Results: Based on the results the average amount of Cadmium, Lead and Copper in the soil were 2.40 ± 1, 8.89 ± 5.91 and 55.83 ± 52.88 mg / kg respectively. Conclusion: The average values of Cadmium and Copper were higher and the average values of lead were lower than the global average. Also, due to the high degree of toxicity of Cadmium, the highest risk of soil contamination can be attributed to Cadmium. The measurement of pollution of each of the three elements and for five sampling stations showed that the soil of the oil region was more polluted than Cadmium than the other two elements and the oil industry was more effective in Cadmium pollution than other elements. By measurement and comparison, the rate of soil pollution indices in the sampled zones, it showed that, as expected, the soil of the processing areas and the well head zones had more severe pollution than other areas and adopted more strict environmental control measures are essential on these areas.
Fahimeh Ranjbar; Hojjat Allah Jafarian; Mohammad Gholizadeh; Mohammad Harsij
Abstract
Background and Objective: In recent years, the construction of fish farms on the margins of the Mohammadabad Katoul River has increased significantly. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the effluents of these fields on some of the river water quality factors. Materials and Methods: ...
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Background and Objective: In recent years, the construction of fish farms on the margins of the Mohammadabad Katoul River has increased significantly. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the effluents of these fields on some of the river water quality factors. Materials and Methods: In this study, five sampling stations of 3 rainbow trout ponds were selected for seasonal water sampling in 1396 seasonally with 3 replications, 12 water quality parameters including dissolved oxygen, fecal coliform, pH, biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, temperature, organic phosphate, nitrate, ammonium, turbidity, total dissolved solids and electrical conductivity. Then, fixed effects of data were analyzed using significant test and water quality was evaluated according to IRWQISC. Results: The results show that the water of Mohammadabad Katoul basin is of medium to relatively good quality. The best water quality in autumn with numerical value of 70.5 and the worst water quality in summer with numerical value of 43.3. The reasons for the relatively poor water quality in summer can be attributed to the high activity of the effluent from the fish ponds, such as reduced river discharge, as well as increased recreational activities in the river, agricultural effluents, rural wastewater discharge, and high livestock density. Area noted. Conclusion: In all seasons, water quality was higher than that of other stations during station 1 sampling prior to fish farming. According to the obtained index, it can be generally concluded that river water quality is suitable due to aquaculture activities.
Samira Rahnama; Hossein Khozeymehnezhad; Abbas KhasheiSiuki
Abstract
Background and Aim:Due to the increasing demands of the human population to groundwater, protection and prevention of these water resources from pollution are necessary. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the vulnerability of groundwater aquifer in Kuchesfahan- Astane plain located in Gilan province ...
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Background and Aim:Due to the increasing demands of the human population to groundwater, protection and prevention of these water resources from pollution are necessary. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the vulnerability of groundwater aquifer in Kuchesfahan- Astane plain located in Gilan province using DRASTIC method and nonparametric models. Materials and Methods:In this study, seven layers were prepared for parameters in GIS software, and after weighting and combining standard ranks, the groundwater vulnerability maps for the study area were prepared. Nitrate data were used to validate the model in this region. Subsequently, by using the nonparametric models, Instance-Based Learning with parameter K (IBK) and the Tree Decision M5, the amount of nitrate was estimated. Meanwhile, Gamma test was conducted to find the best combination of input parameters. ResultsThe results revealed that the vulnerability of groundwater aquifer in this plain has 4 classes including 18.56 % in low vulnerability, 51.29 % in low to medium vulnerability, 28.46% in medium to high vulnerability, and 1.67% in high vulnerability classes. Also, the results showed that both of the nonparametric models have suitable estimates of the nitrate content, but the M5 decision tree model yielded the best results (R2=0.98). Conclusion:The results showed that nonparametric models are efficient method to estimate the aquifer vulnerability and provide accurate results to estimate the potential of contamination in the study area.This demonstrates the superiority of the M5 model over other aquatic vulnerability assessment methods.
Sepideh Yeganeh Shali; Ghasem Rahimi; Leila Jahanban; Salahedin Moradi; Eisa Ebrahimi
Abstract
Background and Aim: In recent decades, industrial, agricultural and urban activities have led to pollution and accumulation of heavy metals in soils and plants which directly or indirectly affects humans and animals lives. Nowadays, pollutant accumulation in most agricultural products is much higher ...
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Background and Aim: In recent decades, industrial, agricultural and urban activities have led to pollution and accumulation of heavy metals in soils and plants which directly or indirectly affects humans and animals lives. Nowadays, pollutant accumulation in most agricultural products is much higher than the permissible limit due to the excessive use of fertilizers. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the accumulated proportions of heavy metals such as copper, lead and cadmium in different tissues of laboratory rat.
Materials and Methods: In this study, the accumulation and distribution of heavy metals were investigated in different organs of rats under various nutritional conditions. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with greenhouse strawberry treatments in three groups.Different groups of rats (27 rats) were fed strawberries infected with heavy metals by oral gavage within a three-month period.
Regarding the average weight of rats, 0.5 gram of fresh strawberry was considered for each rat. In addition, heavy metals solution including cadmium (15.773 mg / l), lead (41.560 mg / l) and copper (9.445 mg / l) were exerted to the plant. In the next stage of procedure, heavy metals (cadmium, copper and lead) accumulated in different organs of the rats (kidney, liver, pancreas, Testicle, spleen, and brain) were measured.
Results: Results showed that the concentrations of studied heavy metals in the strawberries were 7.7, 26 and 3.2 mg/kg for cadmium, lead and copper respectively, which were higher than Iranian standard level. The statistical results showed that there was a significant difference between the different organs in the intake of the heavy metals, so that in the infected treatment, the most and lowest amounts of cadmium were in the kidney (0.41 g / day) and the brain (0.24 g / day), respectively. Heavy metals caused reduction in the rate of weight gain of rats. The accumulation of these elements was higher in the kidney, liver and pancreas than other organs. The least accumulation of heavy metals was related to the rat’s brain, while highest proportion of the heavy metals accumulation was in the kidney.
Conclusion: The results demonstrated that if strawberry quality is not evaluated properly and distributed throughout community in the contaminated form, it can pose many harmful effects on the community’s health. Therefore, the quality control should be carried out with high precision.
Mojgan Mirzaei; Eisa solgi
Abstract
Background and objective: Emission of pollutants caused by natural and human activities on the environment is one of the most important issues in today's society. Objective: This study was based on laboratory studies, field and review of the literature. The aim of this study to determine the concentration ...
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Background and objective: Emission of pollutants caused by natural and human activities on the environment is one of the most important issues in today's society. Objective: This study was based on laboratory studies, field and review of the literature. The aim of this study to determine the concentration of heavy metals (cadmium, copper, manganese, nickel, lead and zinc) in the sediment of Zayandehrood river sediments and comparing them at different stations and various seasons from early October 2014 until late September 2015. Materials & Methods: ICP-AES techniques were used to determine the concentrations of heavy metals by atomic absorption spectrophotometer and then the emissions of metals evaluated with statistical software and Mueller indicator. Zayanderood basin is located in 50° 2´ to 53° 24´ east longitude and 31° 12´ to 33° 42´ north latitude. Results: The results showed high levels of cadmium concentration in Vahid Bridge station in the summer with the amount of 0.0081 ± 0.95, milligrams per kilogram of dry weight that is higher than Canada and New York sediment quality standard. Conclusion:The results showed high levels of cadmium and further concentration of global standards for electroplating industry and agricultural activities in upstream stations. High levels of manganese and lead in Chum Bridge and Varzaneh are related to agricultural activities mainly. Generally, Vahid Bridge station has more unsuitable situation than the other stations.