The Evaluation of Industrial Cement Production Plant on the Environmental Pollution Using Magnetic Susceptibility Technique

Hadi Ghorbani, Ali Aghababaei, Hamid Reza Mirkarimi

Department of Soil and Water College of Agriculture, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran.
Faculty of Agriculture, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Soil Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran.

DOI: 10.4236/as.2013.412108                

Abstract

Different pollutants in soil, water, and other parts of the environment are so important in portraying environmental pollution, and could come from different source of pollutions including industrial activities. Entering metals into the soil by human activities is an important process in the geochemical cycling of heavy metals. Among the potentially toxic metals, mercury, lead, cadmium, nickel, arsenic, selenium and chromium could be named as the most toxic. Each of these elements is used in industrial activities and most of them are considered as by-products of mining, refining and similar industrial activities. Although the establishment of cement factories is usually associated with job creation and other economic aspects, the purpose of economic interests, is inevitable environmental damage caused by cement factories. Therefore, research on pollution originated from factories appears to be necessary. In order to determine the effect of cement production on farmland around Shahrood cement factory, soil samples were taken from surface soils from depth of 0-30 cm. The samples were analyzed using atomic absorption spectrometer instrument after samples preparation using standard frequently used methods. Soil magnetic susceptibility of the samples was also measured using Saskopto meters MFK1-FA. The results showed that among the parameters studied, the element of Zinc has shown the lowest mean value equal to 0.31 mg·kg^-1 and iron has shown the highest mean value equal to 6.36 mg·kg^-1.

Keywords

Magnetic Susceptibility; Soil; Cement; Pollution

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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