IRANIAN JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT
Year:2017 | Volume:10 | Issue:2|Papers Count:12

Background and Objective: Population explosion and human everincreasing demands has been resulted in industrialization which its mismanagement led to land pollution and consequently irreversible harm to nature and living organisms. Thus, it is an important measure to investigate the role of industrial centers in soil pollution.Materials and Methods: We studied Mobarakeh Steel Industrial Complex and surface soil samples were taken in a regular grid with a dimension of 2 km of a 10 km buffer zone.49 samples were taken from different sites. Soil parameters such as texture, pH and salinity were analyzed and concentrations of heavy metals including lead and cadmium were measured using flame atomic absorption spectrometry.Results: Data analysis in the GIS environment using geostatistical techniques showed that a spherical model is a good model to investigate the spatial variability of lead and cadmium. The lowest and highest lead concentrations were 88.50 and 71.26 mg/kg and that of Cd was 6 and 26.1 mg/kg, respectively. No significant relationship between the heavy metals and soil properties (P-value>0.05). However, the correlation between two elements was significant (P-value<0.001). Among the various parameters, it was realized that wind direction played a great role in the distribution of lead and cadmium in the area.Conclusion: The results showed the role of the industrial complex in the environmental pollution. The hot spot for lead was eastern and southwestern parts of the steel complex and for Cd it was in eastern and western parts. Proper management and more accurate monitoring are necessary to protect the environment in the complex industry.

Background and Objective: Styrene monomer is a volatile organic compound that is used in the various industries. Due to the hazardous effects of this chemical substance on the environment and humans, control and elimination of this vapour is necessary. Therefore, the aim of this study was to remove the styrene vapors from air flow using photo catalytic activity of zinc oxide immobilized on ZSM-5 zeolite.Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, the fabricated catalysts were characterized using analysis of BET, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Dynamic Concentrator System were used to generate styrene vapors at a certain concentration and flow, and then removal efficiency of the styrene vapors was investigated using UV/ZnO and UV/ZSM-5/ZnO.Results: The results of XRD analysis and SEM images showed that produced zinc oxide had nano dimensions. In addition, these nanoparticles was successfully stabilized on ZSM-5 zeolite. The results of the photo catalytic removal showed that ZnO and ZSM-5/ZnO catalysts at the concentrations of 50 ppm eliminated the styrene vapor 14% and 37%, respectively.Conclusion: Findings of this study showed that stabilization of zinc oxide nanoparticles on ZSM-5 zeolite had an ssynergistic effect on the photo catalytic degradation of styrene. According to this finding, the use of adsorption-photo catalyst hybrid systems can be an appropriate technique to remove styrene vapors and other similar pollutants.

Background and Objective: Glyphosate is a non-selective, systemic herbicide that can control most plants, but it has harmful effects on organisms, especially aquatic animals. Static bioassays were made to determine acute toxicity of glyphosate and its effects on haematological parameters and behavior changes of common carp (Cyprinus carpio).Materials and Methods: Common carp were exposed to different concentrations of glyphosate (5, 10, 20, 30 and 40 mg/L) and a control group for 96 h. After that, blood and plasma factors were measured in blood samples. Mortality rate and fish behavioral were recorded during the experiments. LC50, LOEC, NOEC and MATC were calculated by Probit software according to mortality rate in any treatment.Results: In the early period of the experiment, fish in toxic media were jumping in water and showed high movements. Then after, the behavior such as breathing in surface, loss of balance, weakness and finally death were observed in the different treatments. LC50 value and 95% confidence limit of glyphosate in 24, 48, 72 and 96 h were 36.09, 30.46, 21.78 and 20.05 mg/L for common carp, respectively. The LOEC, NOEC and MATC were calculated as 6.66, 4.73 and 2.005 mg/L. The Significant changes that were observed in blood factors included RBC, WBC, Hct, Hb and plasma factors such as total protein, glucose, cortisol and other factors when the pesticide concentration was increased (P<0.05).Conclusion: Results showed that glyphosate had a high effect on common carp and it its physiology and immune system. Haematological parameters may be used as an environmental health diagnostic test and stress indicator for agriculture pesticides in aquatic ecosystems.

Background and Objective: Nitro phenols are among the most common and toxic compounds in industrial effluents that 2, 4 dinitrophenol (2, 4-DNP) is the most toxic compound in this group. The object of this study was to optimize the removal of 2, 4-DNP by thermally activated persulfate using a central composite design.Materials and Methods: This study was performed on a batch thermal reactor with a volume of 4 L. In this study, a central composite design (CCD) with RSM method was used for designing and optimizing the operation parameters such as initial pH of solution, potassium persulfate concentration and temperature. The effect of 2, 4-DNP concentration and reaction time at optimum conditions were also investigated.Results: The results indicated that the degradation rate of 2, 4-DNP was enhanced by increasing the concentration of persulfate and reducing temperature and pH. The optimum conditions for the highest degradation efficiency (99%) were as initial concentration 10 mg/L, reaction time 30 min, temperature 60 °C, Potassium persulfate concentration 10 mmol/L, and pH 5. At the optimum conditions, when 2, 4-DNP concentration was increased to 50 mg/L, the 2, 4-DNP degradation rate decreased to 73%.Conclusion: This study indicated that the heat-activated PS oxidation could be an efficient approach for decomposition of2, 4-DNP. Temperature was the most influential variable in this regard (P-value<0.0001).

Background and Objective: Information about the history of exposed individuals to mercury and monitoring mercury levels in body can be obtained by analyzing the longitudinal section of hair. The aim of this study was to analyze changes of mercury concentrations in hair length and daily mercury intake in women living in Bandar Abbas, Bushehr and Mahshahr cities.Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional and questionnaire study, 43 hair samples were randomly collected from women in fisher and no nfishermen families. Mercury concentrations were determined by LECO AMA 254, Advanced Mercury Analyzer (USA) according to ASTM standard NO.D-6722.Results: The mean mercury concentration in hair was 2.31 mg/g. ANOVA test showed that there is no significant difference among the mercury concentrations in the various parts of hairs. The mean daily mercury intake was 0.24 mg/kg/day. Age, fish consumption, city of residence, fishermen and non-fishermen family had a statistically significant effect on the daily mercury intake in the women but the number of dental amalgam filling variable had no significant effect on the daily mercury intake.Conclusion: During the 6 month period that the study was conducted, the methyl mercury uptake in the women was steady. The daily intake of mercury in 23% of the women was exceeded JECFA guidelines. Also, according to possible risks for mercury exposure, it is necessary to study on mercury risk assessment, considering all possible routes for mercury exposure in these cities.

Background and Objective: In the recent decade, critical condition of particulate matters (PMs) concentration is considered as one of the most important issues in Tehran megacity. Due to sparse spatial distribution of air quality monitoring stations and economic considerations, researchers proposed remote sensing technique as a fast and economical way to obtain complete spatial and temporal coverage of PM concentrations.Materials and Methods: In this study, aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieved by MODIS along with meteorological parameters were used to develop statistical linear mixed effect (LME) model and estimating ground-level PM2.5 concentrations. AOD data with a spatial resolution of 3 km from 13 monitoring stations and meteorological data from 5 synoptic stations were extracted over Tehran during 2013.Results: The results showed that the proposed model was able to explain about 57%-72% of daily PM2.5 concentration variations. Temporal analysis of predicted PM2.5 concentrations could follow the curve trend which was obtained from the observed PM2.5 measurements with a reasonable level of accuracy. Best performance of the model was in May 2013 during a model-fitting and cross-validation practice. Also, the spatial distribution of the estimated PM2.5 concentrations was consistent with the measured values in the monitoring stations.Conclusion: Based on the spatial distribution map of the estimated PM2.5, central and northern parts of Tehran were the most polluted areas in the study region. The result showed that the LME model using the satellite derived AOD and meteorological variables could provide an accurate prediction of ground-level PM2.5 concentrations.

Background and Objective: With industrial development and population growth, the emerging contaminants enter into the natural water resources. Therefore, adsorption potential of Ammonium Chloride-induced activated carbon (NAC) to remove metolachlor pesticide from contaminated water was investigated in this study.Materials and Methods: The effects of operational conditions including solution pH, NAC concentration, metolachlor initial concentration and contact time on the removal of metolachlor by Ammonium Chloride induced activated carbon (NAC) and standard activated carbon (SAC) were studied.Results: Over 92.4% of 50 mg/L metolachlor was adsorbed using 0.3 g NAC/L within 5 min, and by increasing the reaction time to 60 min the removal efficiency reached to 100%. Under similar experimental conditions, standard activated carbon (SAC) could only adsorb 20% of metolachlor within 5 min and increase of contact time to 40 min caused the improvement of metolachlor adsorption onto SAC to 48%. The adsorption onto SAC was not influenced by the contact time over 40 min. Kinetic analysis showed that experimental adsorption data for both NAC and SAC were best fitted to the pseudo-second-order model. The maximum adsorption capacities of metolachlor onto NAC and SAC calculated by the Langmuir model were 344.8 and 238.1 mg/g, respectively.Conclusion: Generally, these results showed that developed NAC was an efficient adsorbent with high removal efficiency for eliminating the halogenated pesticides from the contaminated water streams.

Background and Objective: Discharge of industrial wastewater containing Catechol has adverse effects on human and environmental health. Purpose of this study was to determine the effects of catechol toxicity before and after advanced oxidation process (ozonation process) by bioassay test with Daphnia Magna.Materials and Methods: This study is an applied research in which the toxicity of catechol was determined by Daphnia Magna bioassay test during the ozonation process. First, Catechol stock solution was prepared at a concentration of 250 mg/L. Then, 10 samples were prepared that each contained 0 (control), 0.5, 1, 3, 6, 12, 25, 50, 75 and 100% of volume of primary solution. Initial samples were prepared from reactor effluent in the same volume as those of the samples. According to standard method, 10 Daphnia infants were added to each sample. The samples were observed after 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours. Finally, lethal concentration (LC50) and toxicity unit (TU) were calculated using Probit analysis.Results: According to the results, Daphnia magna was affected by the toxicity of catechol. LC50 (24-hour) for raw effluent was increased from 13.30 mL/100 mL to 30.4 mL/100 mL after 60 minutes Treatment. The toxicity unit was decreased from 7.51 TU to 3.29 TU accordingly, showing reduction of 56% in toxicity. The toxicity of the treated effluent decreased during ozonation process of catechol.Conclusion: Based on the bioassay test, ozonation process was able to reduce the toxicity of catechol. Therefore, this process can be used as an option to treat wastewater that contains catechol.

Background and Objective: All around the worlds, wastewater containing dye pollutants are considered serious problem. Rhoda mine B dye which is used in textile, leather, drug, and cosmetic industries exert carcinogenic and strong toxic effects. The aim of this research was to remove of Rhoda mine B dye by nanowires of zinc oxide doped with lanthanum.Materials and Methods: In this work, nanowire of zinc oxide doped with lanthanum was synthesized by hydrothermal method. The obtained photo catalyst was characterized by XRF, XRD, and SEM method. Effects of batch process variables such as pH, initial concentration of Rhoda mine B, and photo catalyst dose were investigated. The kinetics of the reaction was also studied.Results: The SEM images showed a hexagonal structure of ZnO, and La/ ZnO nanowires. XRD results also confirmed the formation of ZnO with wurtzite hexagonal structure in both samples (ZnO and La/ZnO). The kinetics studies showed that the reaction was a pseudo first order. The apparent constants of ZnO and 2%La/ZnO nanowires were 0.0045 min-1 and 0.0074 min-1; respectively. In a batch experiment, the degradation yield of 99.8% was obtained at operating conditions of 1.25 g/L of 2% La/ZnO photo catalyst, initial concentration of Rhoda mine B solution 4.78 mg/L, and pH=9 under ultra violet irradiation for 4 h.Conclusion: The nanowire of La/ZnO with an optimum load of lanthanum has a better photo catalytic activity than nanowire of ZnO for degradation of Rhoda mine B in aqueous solution.

Background and Objective: Environmental pollution due to dumping construction and demolition wastes has adverse effects on public health. This study aimed to select the best method for managing construction and demolition wastes disposal in Tehran by AHP.Materials and Methods: This research was a descriptive study. The study population consisted of environmental health experts in the field of construction waste management. Initially, criteria and alternatives for construction waste management, recycling and reuse and landfilling were identified and classified. Using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), different outcomes were compared based on scoring by Expert Choice 11 software.Results: The results of this study showed that the discharge percentage in the permanent landfills was 68%, in temporary pits was 9% and in recovery centers was 23% in the last 6 years. The final priority of criteria with respect to the economical criterion was reuse (0.492), recycling (0.274) and landfilling (0.235), respectively. Also, according to the environmental criterion, the scores for reuse, recycling and landfilling were 0.492, 0.373 and 0.198 respectively. Based on social criterion the calculated scores were 0.5, 0.279 and 0.222 for landfilling, recycling and reuse, respectively.Conclusion: In this study, the reuse option with the weight of 0.439 was the best disposal option; and the recycling option with the weight of 0.312 was the second priority. Landfilling showed the lowest score with the weight of 0.250.

Background and Objective: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) constitute a large class of organic compounds that are composed of two or more fused aromatic rings. Due to their potential mutagenic, carcinogenic and teratogenic effects on human health, PAHs have attracted particular concern. Therefore, in this study it was attempted to measure the PAHs concentration in the study area to evaluate the health risk.Materials and Methods: 36 samples were taken from the central district in Bandar Abbas countyto investigate the degree of contamination, sources andhealth risk of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Analysis of the samples was performed using gas chromatography. Also, PMF Model was used to determine the possible sources.Results: The total PAHs concentration had a mean value of 1.48 mg/kg in the soil samples. The total incremental life time cancer risk (ILCR) due to exposure to PAHs in soil is 1.06 ´ 10−6 for an adult and 4.95 ´ 10−6 for children. The results estimated for ILCR indicated that residents live in the central district of Bandar Abbas county are potentially exposed to cancer risk via both dust ingestion and dermal contact.Conclusion: The ecological risk assessment of PAHs showed that the levels of all types of PAHs were lower than the lower value of effects range, except for dibenzo (a, h) antheracene and acenaphthene. The estimated results of ILCR indicated that Bandar Abbas county central district residents are potentially exposed to cancer risk via both ingestion and dermal contact. The PMF analysis identified four sources that were included fossil fuel combustion (14%), biomass combustion (13%), vehicular emissions (36%) and fossil fuel combustion/unburned petroleum (37%).

Background and Objective: Street dust is considered as one of the important sources of particulate matters and heavy metals in the atmosphere. The goal of this study was to assess the heavy metals pollution in street dust of Tehran and evaluate their ecological risk.Materials and Methods: The sampling of street dust was carried out in two areas at the east and west of Tehran. After preparation of samples, the concentration of heavy metals was measured by ICP-MS. The pollution level of heavy metals in the street dust was assessed using geoaccumulation index (Igeo), pollution index (PI), integrated pollution index (IPI), enrichment factor (EF) and ecological risk index (RI).Results: The results of the calculations of the indices showed that the street dust in both studied areas was non-polluted with Li, Al, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Sr and Ba. The origin of these elements was mainly natural sources. However, Cd, Cu, As, Zn, Sn and Pb had medium to high level of contamination. These elements had a very high to extremely high enrichment in both areas. Their origin was mainly anthropogenic sources. The ecological risk index indicated a moderate ecological risk for the east and a low ecological risk for the west area.Conclusion: The higher level of lead in the East is the main reason of higher ecological risk of this area. Therefore, the heavy metals pollution of the street dust, especially lead and its enterance into the environment, should be considered in this area.