IRANIAN JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT
Year:2009 | Volume:2 | Issue:3 (5)|Papers Count:8

Backgrounds and Objectives: Over than 70% of solid wastes is consisted of food wastes with high putrecibility in Iran. Due to this regard, construction of composting factories for sanitary disposal or fertilizer production from solid wastes was very appreciated in our country. The objective of this research was to study on the quality and comparing of the compost produced by Khomain and Tehran compost factories.Materials and Methods: This study was accomplished on the compost produce from Khomain and Tehran compost factories about 9 months. For investigation of chemical qualities of these materials, some indexes such as percentage of organic materials, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potash and heavy metals consists of lead, cadmium, mercury and chromium were measured. Microbial quality of these compost materials were defined by assessing of the amounts of coliforms bacteria, salmonella bacteria and parasites ova.Results: The average amounts of some indexes in compost of Khomain and Tehran were been: organic materials %(37.77, 29.80), carbon %( 22.14, 18.12), nitrogen %(2.08, 1.6), lead (229.6, 59.44 ppm), and chromium (70.2, 19.75), respectively. The microbial quality of these compost samples were agreement with class B of USEPA guidelines.Conclusion: This study showed that quality of organic materials percent in Tehran’s samples was better than Khomain’s samples, but these indexes on these samples were lower than the grade No.2 of compost. The percentage of carbon, nitrogen and potash in these samples were desirable but, phosphorus amount were not in sufficient. The heavy metals especially lead and chromium in Tehran’s samples were higher than Khomain’s samples, but these samples were usually in agreement with guidelines of compost. Due to the defined microbial qualities, these samples could be used as well as amendment agents for poor soil.

Backgrounds and Objectives: As industries are developed, human uses of the energy in the huge scale and release the loss energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation such as infrared into the environment, that it could affect on the man health. According to the available standards, if the IR-A could be controlled and consequently health of workers could be provided, it would reduce the total industrial expenses.Materials and Methods: To control this radiation, it is necessary to measure it and compare the results with the available standards. Hence, in this study, we try to measure this radiation in a unit of industy. For this porpuse the unit of steel company that settled in southeast of ahvaz is selected.Results: The determinations were done every month during one year in all selected units. These results are compared with the available standards, and finally the differences are statistically evaluated by some suitable statistical methods. For measuring the dispersal of ray in the diffrent height. Bat hard data compared with ACGIH standard and SPSS software is used for changing Radiation.Conclusion: The average amount of IR-A at this industrial unit is 1.18 mW/cm2 which is more than the standard value in such industries, and based on our fouding the natural solar source of this radiation increases such effects in out-door work places.

Backgrounds and Objectives: Swimming pools water if not disinfected properly can be one of the infection sources of different microorganisms such as staphylococcus. This study is to aware the authorities and users about the conditions existed in sheltered swimming pools in Sari and to believe the contamination of the water there, related to the existence of staphylococcus aureus.Materials and Method: In this descriptive study 32 specimens collected randomly from 15 swimming pools in action during three months from 60 cm deep under specific conditions in sterile containers and taken to the laboratory of health college in 2 hrs and were analyzed for the contamination from staphylococcus aureus and some other parameters like temperature, pH, chlorine residual and opacity on the basis of microbiological and standard methods.Result: Results showed an average temperature of 27.08 degree Celsius, PH=7.6, average chlorine residual 1 mil/l and opacity average was 77 NTU % and the highest contamination from staphylococcus aureus (29.3 %) in C and the lowest (10.19 %) was observed in D swimming pool. Furthermore this analysis showed that in 90% of specimens there was a direct relationship between the ratio of chlorine residual, times of swimming, water temperature and the number of staphylococcus.Conclusion: Swimming pools water if not disinfected properly can be one of the infection sources of different microorganisms such as staphylococcus. Some suggestions inorder to optimization of the swimming pools condition presented in this paper.

Backgrounds and Objectives: Textile industrial wastewaters are one of the important sources of environmental contaminants. In the recent years, use of advanced oxidation processes, by producing highly active and reactive components such as hydroxyl radicals has been proposed. The aim of this research is photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye using the ZnO-nanoparticle with UVA irradiation.Materials and Methods: photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue color using the ZnOnanoparticles excited with UVA irradiation. In this research, photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye was study using different concentration of ZnO-nanoparticles under UVA irradiation in a batch reactor.Results: The results of this research show that removal of methylene blue dye has direct correlation with UVA intensity. The best results of dye degradation were reported in concentration of 150 mg/L ZnO nano-particles and the radiation intensity of 240 mW/cm2. Rate of dye removal was decrease with increasing of color concentration. Subsequent of color degradation, the initial COD were decresed by %60.Conclusion: The photocatalytic degradation process using ZnO nano-particles under UVA irradiation could be remove the methylene blue dye and 60% of COD.

Backgrounds and Objectives: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of hazardous pollutants which have carcinogenic and mutagenic properties and accumulated in environment by different actions, therefore treatment of them is important. Biological treatments are simple and cheep technologies. This technology was recommended as a cost- effective method for treatment of these pollutants. In order to investigate the trend of pollution reduction of petroleum hydrocarbons in bioremediation, the phenanthrene biodegradation’s model in contaminated soils was studied.Materials and Methods: Firstly, PAHs capable degrading bacteria was isolated from petroleum contaminated soils and then their ability for biodegradation of phenanthrene was assessed in slurry phase. After that by using Acinetobacter which have the most potential of removing phenanthrene from soil, the biodegradation model was investigated in bench scale.Results: Phenantherene removal efficiency was obtained 99.4% for 100 mg/kg and 96 % for 500 mg/kg concentrations in 33 and 60 days biodegradation period respectively. Phenantherene reduction rate varied from 2.99 to 8.86 and 1.4 to 11.09 mg/kg/day for 100 and 500 mg/kg concentrations, respectively.Conclusion: Rate of phenantherene removal is depended on primary concentration of contamination and by increasing of primary concentration, phenantherene removal rate was increased. Also removal efficiency followed zero and first order kinetic model with good correlation.

Backgrounds and Objectives: The school is the most appropriate place for flourishes children, adolescents and juniors, and prepares safe and vigorous life. Thus, the aim of this research is to study of the hygienic conditions in primary schools in region 1 of Sari city.Materials and Methods: This article is a descriptive study. In which 45 non-for-profit and governmental schools were sampled using census method. The Fools of sampling was questionnaire filled in during interview with school principals and direct observation. Collected information was analyzed using Excell and spss soft wares.Results: The results of this search showed that %93.4 of schools had dimention smaller than minimum standard. Only in %35.6 of schools, lavatory and drinking places were separate and the quality and quantity of lighting in %32 of. Schools were classes proper.Conclusion: The most important finding of this search was the ignorant of indicators in environmental healthas overlooking of standards, and the schools are merely established on quantity and urgent need despit of their quality.

Backgrounds and Objectives: Due to having features such as toxicity, corrosiveness, ignitability, reactivity or other similar characteristics, hazardous wastes refer to the wastes that jeopardize man’s health and environment. A study was required to identify the hazardous wastes in Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), since it plays an important role in the development of the country’s education. The objective of this research was to provide a review of hazardous wastes production and its management at Tehran University of Medical Sciences.Materials and Methods: In this study, four schools that were in the central campus of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran, were selected and the necessary data were gathered using a sampling, questionnaire, interviewing those in charge of the units, and referring to the available documents. The information includes the type and amount of waste, method of temporary storage, frequency of waste discharge, and method of final disposal of wastes.Results: The obtained results indicate that approximately 2072 Kg of hazardous wastes are produced each year, excluding the uncontrolled wastewater. Moreover, schools of dental, pharmacy, medicine, and public health produced approximately 993, 606, 256, 217 Kg/year, respectively, of hazardous wastes in the central campus. Also, the results show that, of total amount of annual hazardous waste that was 2.72 tons, 954, 848, 475, 427, 245, 49 Kg were wastes that the features infectious, toxicity, ignitability, carcinogenesis, corrosiveness, and reactivity, respectively.Conclusion: It is to be mentioned that hazardous solid wastes were manage with household solid waste and hazardous liquid waste were discharged into sink without any kind of control. Improper practice is evident from the point of waste production to final disposal.

Backgrounds and Objectives: Determination of Fluoride in drinking water has received increasing interest, duo to its beneifical and detrimental effects on health. The aim of this research is investigation of Effect of activated alumina in fluoride concentration reduction in drinking water.Materials and Methods: Expriment in batch system and with change effective parameters such as pH (5,7,9), equilibration time (30, 60, 90, 120 minute), initial fluoride concentration (1.4, 2, 2.4 mg/l) and activated Alumina dosage (0.1, 0.2, 0.3 gr/l) was investigated. Also found data of this research were fited with Langmuir and Freundlich models, kinetic data with pseudo- first order, pseudo- second order and modifited pseudofirst order models.Results: The results showed that with increasing of pH of solution, removal efficiency was decreased and optimum pH was found to be in the range of 5 to 7. Also removal efficiency of fluoride was increased with increasing of adsorbent dosage and decreasing of initial concentration of fluoride. Adsorption isotherm data show that the fluoride sorption followed the Langmuir model (r2=0.98). Kinetics of sorption of fluoride on to Activated alumina was well described by pseudo- second order model.Conclusion: The concentration of Activated Alumina had significant effect on the reduction of fluoride ions concentration in water.The higher fluoride removals were observed for batch experiments at pH=5 because no free fluoride ion is present in the solutions, and it could be casued by electrostatic interactions between the surface of alumina and the dominant fluoride species in solution The kinetic model can adequately describe the removal behaviors of fluoride ion by alumina adsorption in the batch system.