IRANIAN JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT
Year:2016 | Volume:8 | Issue:4|Papers Count:12

Backgrounds and Objectives: Quantity of trace metals in the wet precipitation can illustrate the environmental pollution of different urban areas. Up to now, there is no study regarding the chemistry of wet precipitation in Tehran. The objectives of this study are: measurement of heavy metal concentrations and identification of the main factors affecting the heavy metal concentrations in wet precipitation using factor analysis method.Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study in which measurements of heavy metals were performed in 53 wet precipitation samples collected from a central site of Tehran City, capital of Iran. The samples were collected during November to May in 2010, 2011 and 2012 on the roof of the student's dormitory building of Tehran University of Medical Sciences and then the concentration of heavy metals in each sample was measured with ICP-MS.Results: pH ranged from 4.2 to 7.1 with a mean value of 5.1 indicating in acidic range. Result of EF calculations revealed that samples were not enriched with Fe and Cr but were enriched with Zn, Cd, Ni, Pb and Cu. Factor Component Analysis with Varimax normalized rotation showed Al, Fe and Cr are originated from crustal source and Zn, Cd, Ni, Pb and Cu are originated from anthropogenic sources.Conclusion: EF and acidic pH values indicate Tehran is under the influence of extremely anthropogenic activities. Large number of vehicles and industrial activity in the city are undoubtedly responsible for the emission of a wide range of pollution.

Background and Objectives: Perchlorate, as an emerging contaminant, has attracted notice of the most individualsand organizations. Presence of perchlorate in the human body can lead to inappropriate regulation of metabolism in adults. Moreover, due to inhibition of iodide uptake in the thyroid gland, it causes neurological and behavioral problems in infants and children. United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has enacted 15 mg/L perchlorate in drinking water as a guideline value. Regarding the possible sources and potential presence of perchlorate in the environment of the study area, and the unique characteristics of this pollutant, such as extreme water solubility, high mobility in soils and stability in the environment, the status of its contamination was assessed in soil, surface water and drinking water in the study area (Khorramshahr County).Materials and Methods: Soil and water samples were taken during February to April, 2013. Combined sampling was used for soil sample collection and the random sampling was used for water (surface and drinking water) samples. Each sample was analyzed using ion chromatography. In this study, 15 samples of surface soil and 22 samples of surface and drink water were tested for perchlorate analysis.Results: It was found that all surface soil and water samples collected from the study area were contaminated with perchlorate and exceed the standard level. Concentration of perchlorate in surface water and drinking water was 1400-5800 and 700-5900 mg/L respectively and in surface soils was 3.3-107.9 mg/kg.Conclusion: The assessment of perchlorate in soil, surface water, and drinking water in the study area is extremely higher than recommended standards and therefore is a threat to the health of consumers.

Background and Objectives: In recent years, anthropogenic and natural activities have caused high levels of metal contamination into the aquatic ecosystem. These pollutants can accumulate in the food chain. The present study examined the amount of metals such as nickel, zinc, and vanadium in the muscle tissue of Sander and Alosa because of their importance in the southeast of the Caspian Sea.Method and materials: After bioassay, the samples of Sander and Alosa were prepared through acid digestion method and the amount of metals was measured using atomic absorption device (Scientific Equipment GBS).Results: Statistical tests showed that there was no significant difference between the amount of zinc in two species of the Sander and Alosa (p>0.05) while the amount of nickel and vanadium in Alosa was significantly higher than Sander (P>0.05). Statistical analysis of differences in the accumulation of metals in Sander was: Zn>Ni» V and of Alosa was Zn>Ni » V. There was a correlation between nickel and vanadium of Sander and between zinc and vanadium of Alosa (p>0.05). The amount of nickel metal in both species and vanadium in Alosa were higher than the WHO guideline. The maximum and minimum THQ for Alosa were vanadium (0.059) and zinc (0.017) respectively. Whereas, for Sander, these values were zinc (0.016) and vanadium (0.004) respectively. In general, the TQM measured in this study was<1, indicating no food risk in present consumption rate (21 g/day) of these fish.Conclusion: Food risk assessment of case study species indicates that the consumption of Sander and Alosa with the current consumption rate causes no danger to consumers from the viewpoint of zinc, nickle, and vanadium.

Background and Objectives: In this work, biosorption of hexavalent chromium from aqueous solution with excess municipal sludge was studied. Moreover, the performance of neural networks to predict the biosorption rate was investigated.Materials and Methods: The effect of operational parameters including initial metal concentration, initial pH, agitation speed, adsorbent dosage, and agitation time on the biosorption of chromium was assessed in a batch system. A part of the experimental results was modeled using Feed-Forward Back propagation Neural Network (FFBP-ANN). Another part of the test results was simulated to assess the model accuracy. Transfer function in the hidden layers and output layers and the number of neurons in the hidden layers were optimized.Results: The maximum removal of chromium obtained from batch studies was more than 96% in 90 mg/L initial concentration, pH 2, agitation speed 200 rpm and adsorbent dosage 4 g/L. Maximum biosorption capacity was 41.69 mg/g. Biosorption data of Cr (VI) are described well by Freundlich isotherm model and adsorption kinetic followed pseudosecond order model. Tangent sigmoid function determined was the most appropriate transfer function in the hidden and output layer. The optimal number of neurons in hidden layers was 13. Predictions of model showed excellent correlation (R=0.984) with the target vector. Simulations performed by the developed neural network model showed good agreement with experimental results.Conclusion: Overall, it can be concluded that excess municipal sludge performs well for the removal of Cr ions from aqueous solution as a biological and low cost biosorbent. FFBP-ANN is an appropriate technique for modeling, estimating, and prediction of biosorption process If the Levenberg-Marquardt training function, tangent sigmoid transfer function in the hidden and output layers and the number of neurons is between 1.6 to 1.8 times the input data, proper predication results could be achieved.

Background and Objectives: In this study, contribution of exhaust emission and CO distribution was estimated in enclosed residential complex parking.Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive- analytical study consisted of two stages. In the first stage, the emission contribution of vehicles was determined. In order to determine the contribution of exhaust gas emissions, through gas species, only four species CO, O2, CO2, and N2 were measured. Concentration of CO, O2, and CO2 was estimated using data obtained from the vehicle emissions monitoring system. The amount of N2 was estimated from sum ratio of all species, which equals to 1. Then, using computational methods, the amount of the emission contribution from vehicles. In the second phase, to measure the distribution of CO pollutant, gas sampling and collecting was performed using sampling bags made of inert materials with a volume of 10 l at six points. Sampling was conducted in accordance with the requirements of OSHA ID 210. The Obtained data were analyzed using SPSS Ver.16 software and Pearson statistical test (P>0.05 means there was no significant difference).Results: Maximum contribution was estimated for Pride with amount of 44.4 g/s and minimum contribution was estimated for Tiba with amount of 0.3 g/s. The minimum and maximum distribution value of CO concentration was achieved 3.6 and 69.48 ppm respectively. It was found that no significant relationship was observed between the values of exhaust emissions and CO distribution. However, the distribution of concentration was associated with locations and the number of openings, the number and type of vehicle, time of operation of the vehicle, the vehicle performance, and environmental factors.Conclusion: Measuring vehicles CO emission indicated that the concentration was beyond the permissible level recommended by the World Health Organization at some. Moreover, it was indicated that natural air conditioning is an effective alternative for improving the air quality in built environments and suitable quality in built environments is achievable through reasonable architectural design, without need to spend too much expense.

Background and Objective: The concentration of nitrate, factors affecting the balance sheet, and the changes in an aquifer is of utmost importance. Because modeling is an efficient method to predict the concentration of ions in water resources, in this study using lumped-parameter model and Monte Carlo simulation model, the nitrate concentrations in groundwater resources of Qazvin Plain were estimated and analyzed.Materials and Methods: A total of 19 wells in different climates of saline watershed in Qazvin Plain were selected and entry and exit routes of nitrate to these sources were analyzed using lumped-parameter model. Finally, Monte Carlo simulation was used to determine the probability of the estimated nitrate concentration in aquifer.Results: Application of lumped-parameter model for a part of a part of groundwater resources in Qazvin Plain watershed predicted the nitrate concentration in the range of 8.12 to 15.94 mg/l. The maximum concentration was estimated in cold-dry climate with 12.8±0.04 mg/L.Moreover, it was found that the difference between the estimated nitrate concentration and factors affecting its concentration in different climates was significant (p<0.05).Conclusion: Despite the predicted concentrations of nitrate in the study area were in accordance with the Iran national standard for drinking purposes, the cumulative probability of Monte Carlo simulation showed that the possible violation of nitrate from the safe limit of 10 mg/l in the study area is 90% (p=0.005).

Background and Objectives: Due to the increasing use of mobile phone in recent years, the number of BTS antennas has also increased. .Proliferation of BTS antennas in cities and villages, and perpetuation of encountering with waves from one side and increasing the anxiety of many people in encountering with their waves from the other side convinced more investigations in this field. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the propagation of microwave around the BTS antennas of Maragheh and to compare power density measurements with allowable environmental standards.Material and Methods: In this research, the frequency of BTS antennas was determined through field monitoring. Then, measurements were performed using a calibrated Spectran 4060 and the standard method IEEE Std C95.1 was adopted in close and far fields from each antenna. Then, the obtained data were analyzed after entering to SPSS environment. In this study, the Kolmogrov-Smirnov test, Kruskal-Wallis, and Mann-Whitney tests were used.Results: This research found that in both Irancel and Hamrah Aval operators, the power density increased with distance in close fields and decreased in far fields. Moreover, at the distance of 20 meter, the maximum value of power density was measured. Significant difference between these distances was observed (P-value £0.05).Conclusion: Out of 1804 cases in far and close fields, the highest power density measured at 900 MHz band was 4.51 mW/m2, which is in accordance with 0.1% permissible exposure.

Background and Objectives: Considering the complexity, cost, and time-consuming techniques of detecting Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts, B. subtilits spores have been introduced as microbial indicators of these pathogens to evaluate the efficacy of disinfection studies. The present study was aimed to investigate the feasibility of B. subtilis spores inactivation using hydrogen peroxide combined with copper and silver ions. A new glutaraldehyde based compound used for surface disinfection was also tested.Materials and Methods: In order to sporulation, vegetative bacteria were allowed to grow on a medium with insufficient nutrients, and after 5 days incubation at 37°C, spores were washed and purified. Spore suspension was used to prepare synthetic water. Disinfection efficiency was reported as logarithmic decrease of initial spore count.Results: This research found that none of the disinfection compounds was able to spore inactivation in low initial concentration. The highest spore reduction efficiency was related to HP/Cu+2 with 1.48 log inactivation, and HP/Ag+ compound placed in the second rank with 1.03 log reduction. Maximum spore reduction of 0.6 log was achieved when glutaraldehyde based disinfectant was used in disinfection process.Conclusion: According to the results, it can be concluded that spores are very resistant even to combination of disinfectants. Spore reduction potential of the studied compounds was as follows: HP/Cu+2>HP/Ag+> glutaraldehyde based compound.

Background and Objectives: Adsorption is one of the most common methods for VOCs elimination from waste air stream. The study on the application of a selective and cheap adsorbent with high efficiency in VOCs removal is important from economic aspects. In this study, the potential of MnO/GAC and MgO/GAC composites was investigated for toluene adsorption from air stream at lab scale.Material and methods: The MnO/GAC and MgO/GAC adsorbents were prepared through Sol-gel method and then were characterized using BET, XRF, and SEM analysis. The effect of operational parameters including; retention time (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 4 S), inlet toluene concentration (100, 200, 300, and 400 ppmv) and the temperature of the air stream (25, 50, 75, and 100 °C) were examined on the efficiency of both adsorbents. The efficiency of MnO/GAC and MgO/GAC were determined from the breakthrough time and adsorption capacity and the results were compared statistically.Results: The breakthrough time of MnO/GAC and MgO/GAC adsorbents increased 90% by increasing retention time from 0.5 to 4 S. Adsorption capacity of MgO/GAC and MnO/GAC was increased 39 and 61.1% by increasing inlet toluene concentration from 100 to 400 ppmv, respectively. Breakthrough time of MgO/GAC and MnO/GAC decreased 65 and 59% by increasing inlet toluene concentration from 100 to 400 ppmv, respectively. The efficiency of MgO/GAC and MnO/GAC adsorbents had a direct relationship with the increase of air temperature from 25 to 100 °C. Accordingly, the efficiency of MgO/GAC and MnO/GAC was increased 78 and 32% by increasing air temperature, respectively.Conclusion: The results of the study showed that MgO/GAC and MnO/GAC adsorbents had high efficiency in toluene removal from air stream. The difference between the efficiency of MgO/GAC and MnO/GAC adsorbents was significant and MgO/GAC adsorbent showed higher efficiency than MnO/GAC for toluene adsorption from waste air.

Background and Objectives: The goal of the present study was to develop nanofibrous media filters containing MgO nanoparticles for future application in removing particles from gas stream.Materials and Methods: Electrospun nanofibers were fabricated using experimental design prepared by Response Surface Methodology. Optimization of electrospinning parameters was conducted for achieving the desired filter properties including fiber diameter, porosity, and bead number. After taking SEM images, the determination of fiber diameter and number of beads were performed through Image Analysis and the calculation of porosity percent was performed by MATLAB. A filter media was produced based on the optimized conditions of electrospinning and it was certified by the HEPA filter performance test.Results: In terms of morphological quality of fibers including fiber uniformity, absence of branching and lower numbers of beads, experiment standard No.2 (STD 2: concentration 16 wt%, voltage 10 kV, and distance 15 cm) had the best combination. Maximum fiber diameter was also observed in STD 2. Among the electrospinning, the highest correlation coefficient was observed between solution concentration and response variables and the relationship between concentration and both fiber diameter and porosity percent was statistically significant (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively). A weak positive correlation was found between fiber diameter and porosity percent (r=0.29, p>0.05) and a weak negative relationship was seen between fiber diameter and bead number (r=-0.2, p>0.05).Conclusion: Solution concentration was found as the most affecting factor on the filter properties, so that the higher concentration leaded to the lower bead number and greater fiber diameter. Increase in fiber diameter resulted in larger pore size and higher porosity. Quadratic models were known for understudy variables. Efficiency of the optimized filter was comparable with the HEPA filter and it had the lower pressure drop.

Background and Objectives: Organophosphate pesticides are used most commonly for domestic, commercial, and agricultural purposes and have been found to be highly toxic. In essence, bioremediation has become one of the most important tools for removing these compounds in the environment, considering its higher efficiency when compared with the physicochemical methods.Materials and Methods: The biodegradation efficiency of two bacterial strains (i.e. Serratia marcescens BNA1 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa BNA2) were assessed. In order to evaluate Malathion biodegradation, each sample was cultured on mineral salts medium containing Malathion as a sole carbon source. Malathion biodegradation efficiency of the strains was monitored in different culture media. The ability of bacterial isolates to degrade Malathion was studied using gas chromatography.Results: Serratia marcescens BNA1 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa BNA2 were able to degrade Malathion. Biodegradation percentage in different treatments recorded were: BNA1+Ma (33.88%), BNA2+MA (26.45%), BNA1+BNA2+Ma (46.96%), BNA1+Ma+Tween (61.05%), BNA2+Ma+Tween (40.17%), and BNA1+BNA2+Ma+Tween (67.79%).Conclusion: It could be speculated that the best degradation efficiency can be yielded using mixture of strains plus a surfactant. The results of this study can be used in the bioremediation of Malathion contaminate soil after doing the pilot experiments.

Background and Objective: Arsenic is one of the most toxic pollutants in groundwater and surface water. Arsenic could have lots of adverse impacts on human health. Therefore, access to new technologies is required to achieve the arsenic standard.Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted at laboratory scale in non-continuous batches. The adsorbent of zero-valent iron nanoparticles -Chitosan was produced through reducing ferric iron by sodium borohydride (NaBH4) in the presence of chitosan as a stabilizer.At first, the effect of various parameters such as contact time (5-120 min), pH (3-10), adsorbent dose (0.3-3.5 g/L) and initial concentration of arsenate (2-10 mg/L) were investigated on process efficiency. Then optimum conditions in terms of contact time, pH, adsorbent dose and initial concentration of arsenate were determined by RSM method. Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm model equilibrium constant, pseudo-The residual. first and second order kinetic constants were calculated arsenate was measured y using ICP-AES.Results: The optimum values based on RSM for pH, absorbent dose, contact time, and initial concentration of arsenate were 7.16, 3.04 g/L, 91.48 min, and 9.71 mg/L respectively. Langmuir isotherm with R2=0.9904 for Arsenate was the best graph for the experimental data. According to Langmuir isotherm model, the maximum amount of arsenate adsorption was 135.14 mg/g.. The investigation of arsenate adsorption kinetics showed that arsenate adsorption follows the pseudo-second kinetics model.Conclusion: This research showed that the adsorption process is depended on pH. With increasing pH, the ability of amine groups in chitosan are decreased to protonation, caused to decrease the efficiency of arsenate removal at high pH.