A Study of Heavy Metals in the Dust Fall around Assiut Fertilizer Plant

Thabet A. Mohamed, Mohamed Abuel-Kassem Mohamed, Ragab Rabeiy, Mahmoud A. Ghandour

Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.
Mining and Metallurgical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Assiut, Egypt.

DOI: 10.4236/jep.2013.412170                

Abstract

A study of an environmental assessment of dust fall and the associated heavy metal contents was conducted during the period from the first of March 2011 to the end of February 2012 at adjoining area of a phosphate fertilizer plant. Around the industrial area 8 dust fall stations were established and one of them was built upwind far from pollution activities to be taken as a control sample. Dust fall samples collected monthly weighed and then prepared to be analyzed through Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS) to obtain heavy metal concentration. Meteorological parameters influencing the distribution of dust fall such as wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity, rain fall and pressure were determined. Results showed that deposition flow rates were 38.2. 47.5, 57.7, 44.3, 39.4, 38.2, 42.7 and 5.9 g/m²·month for the sites No., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 respectively, and were compared with the findings of other investigators of like industrial areas worldwide. Levels of heavy metal As, Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, and Hg in the deposited dust fall were 3.30, 26.46, 22.33, 235.00, 4.53 and 3.80 μg/g respectively. Enrichment coefficients of the heavy metals in the dust fall were found to be significant and reached the values 1.81, 0.90, 0.85, 0.65, 0.41 and 0.35 for zinc, lead, cadmium, copper, mercury and arsenic respectively. The paper ends with results and recommendations suggesting a methodology to remediate the investigated area polluted with heavy metals and control measures for the fertilizer plant to reduce pollution into the surrounding environment.

Keywords

Heavy Metal; Dust Fall Station; Deposition Flow Rate; Phosphate Fertilizer Plant; Meteorological Parameters

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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