نشریه مهندسی بهداشت محیط
سال چهارم شماره 4 (پیاپی 16، تابستان 1396)

The influx of dust to the North West of Iran during past decade has become a serious threat to the health and economy of the region and has created many human and financial damages. So, the aim of this study is to quantifying cardiovascular mortality resulted from exposure to Particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micron in Bokan in 2015 using Air Q software.
This descriptive-analytic study was carried out in Bokan. The measurement of PM2.5 Concentration was done using MP101M Device around the clock in 2015, which yielded data collected for 321 days. Meteorological data, including wind speed and direction, and relative humidity were obtained from office of Meteorology. The software, using data processed with Excel, calculated Relative Risk, baseline incidence and attributable proportion and showed the output in terms of mortality.
Based on the statistics of air pollution monitoring station, maximum hourly PM2.5 concentration was 400.52 micrograms per cubic meter and the number of total mortality attributed to exposure to PM2.5 in 2015 was 50 cases.
The number of total mortality attributed to exposure to PM2.5 resulted from the influx of dust, necessitates immediate action to solve the dust problem, as well as dissemination of all facilities and information through public media in order to educate people about how to deal with this dangerous phenomenon.

Background and Goal: Refineries are the main source of various pollutants, including Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S). Therefore distribution and control processing to meet the environmental standard limits is an important issue in industrial units.The present study was carried out to investigate H2S concentrations and dispersion patterns originating from incinerators of sulfur recovery units in a gas refinery located in Asaluyeh.
In this study, H2S concentrations exhausted from two incinerators’ stacks and also ambient H2S concentrations at five monitoring stations in and around the refinery were measured in four seasons from summer 2014 to spring 2015. Moreover, the ambient concentrations and dispersion of H2S were simulated at average times of 1-hr and 8-hr on 50×50 km2 scale using AERMOD model and the simulated results were compared with the measured ones. Meanwhile, the concentration contour plots and the sensitive regions were determined using GIS.
The simulation results indicated that maximum ambient H2S concentrations were in 1-h average. Assessment of model performance was performed by comparison of H2S simulated and measured concentrations using statistical analysis and showed that the correlation coefficients in summer 2014, autumn 2014, winter 2014 and spring 2015 were 0.77, 0.89, 0.75 and 0.8, respectively.
The results of this study showed that the variations of measured concentrations were consistent with those of simulated ones. Meanwhile, the contribution of neighbor industries was determined. Comparision of 8-h H2S concentrations with OSHA and NIOSH standard limits indicated that there was no significant health risk in this refinery.

Cadmium, as a heavy metal, has received considerable attention due to its high toxicity, causing excessive damage to health and the biomagnification effects on ecology. In present study, a facile and economic approach has been described for preparing a novel magnetic EDTA/Chitosan/TiO2 (MECT) nanocomposite to remove a wide range of pollutants, especially Cd(ІІ) ions, from aqueous solution.
In this method, not only EDTA has a cheap and environmentally friendly cross-linker function, embeds Fe3O4 nanoparticles in chitosan surface, but also participates in the chelating process of metal ions, caused by functional groups. The morphology, structure, and property of the MECT were characterized by FE-SEM, EDX, and XRD techniques and the effect of different parameters including pH, contact time, and initial cadmium concentration were evaluated.
The results represented that MECT nanoparticles with an average diameter less than 40 nm had the best performance in adsorption of Cd(II) at optimum pH values of 5-6 and contact time of 120 min. Moreover, Langmuir adsorption isotherm is the best fit for the experimental data, in which maximum capacity of Cd(II) adsorption has been achieved 211.416 mg g-1. Finally, reusability of the nanocomposite was measured using Na2EDTA as an elution agent and regeneration efficiency of MECT was observed more than 90% in five successive sorption-desorption cycles.
Thus, magnetic MECT nanocomposite as an environmentally friendly, economical, and recyclable adsorbent has a great potential to develop the industry of water and wastewater treatment.

Nowadays food processing technology to extend life or improve the appearance, composition, texture, taste, color, smell, and nutrition value of the food is brought to the use of food additives. A significant increase in the use of synthetic colors and additives in addition to stimulate appetite and food palatability and improve its appearance and hide flaws food, it may lead to probable dangerous side effects in consumers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality and frequency of unauthorized and synthetic dyes consumption in supplied food of city Nazarabad Township.
In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the measure of synthetic dye in dried sweets, raw barbecue chicken and barbecue chicken sauce of confectionaries, food shops, and restaurants of the Nazarabad Township was studied. A total of 25 random samples of the existing units based on the highest probability was taken and were transferred to the food laboratory. After extraction probable dye, the measure of the dye were quantified using chromatography. Then, the Food colorings were compared with the national standard.
According to the obtained results, 88% and 12% of the total samples were contained unauthorized synthetic and authorized synthetic dyes, respectively. The amount of 92.58% of the dried sweets samples, 81.18% of the raw barbecue chicken and barbecue chicken sauce samples were used unauthorized synthetic dyes, and 7.14% of dried sweets samples and 18.18% of the raw barbecue chicken and barbecue chicken sauce samples were used authorized synthetic dyes, respectively.
the results show that the frequency use of synthetic dyes might be due to lack of health knowledge and safety of food vendors, low price and easy access of dyes.

Pharmaceuticals, especially antibiotics, are newborn contaminants Due to its cumulative nature, adverse effects and drug resistance; it has created a major concern for environmental control. An example of these antibiotics is metronidazole (MNZ). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the efficiency of removal of MNZ from aqueous solution using the nano/persulfate process (nZVI/PS).
This experimental study was conducted on a laboratory scale and in a batched system. The effects of factors such as pH of solution (3-11), reaction time (5-150 min), dose of nanoparticle (0.025-2 g/L), the concentration of persulfate (0.1-3.33 mmol), and the initial concentration of metronidazole (1-120 mg/L) were studied on the removal efficiency. Metronidazole was measured by HPLC device.
The results of this study showed that at the optimal pH 3, the highest removal efficiency of metronidazole was obtained. With a 30 minute contact time and 25 mg/L initial concentration of metronidazole, the removal efficiency was 90.3%. The optimal and economical dose of nZVI was also obtained at 0.5 g/L and persulfate was 1.85 mM.
The results of this study showed the acceptable performance of nano/persulfate process in the removal of metronidazole. And an increase of 62.4%, confirms the good effect of zero valent-iron nanoparticles on persulfate activation.

Swimming is great exercise and entertainment and enjoyment for people of all ages, especially in the hot season. Due to health issues and ways to ensure the health and welfare of people, swimming pools are very important. Therefore, in this study, relationship between the capacity and area of the pool with microbial contamination and heterotrophs were investigated.
This study, based on applied research and analytical - descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional survey was conducted. In this project, we studied 35 swimming pools in the city of Karaj. For this purpose, samples were collected every month for 9 months, turbidity, pH, free residual chlorine was measured at the sampling time and testing for total coliform, E.coli coliform and counting of hetrotrophic organisms in the laboratory of water and wastewater was performed. Data was analyzed by using SPSS software and peyerson analytical.
Frome the 315 coliform samples about 90.2% was pure. Of the 315 tested HPCs, 99.7 percent was found in the clean range. The minimum HPC reported is zero, at most 250 with an average of 18/11 and a standard deviation of 266.68. Peyerson correlation test between heterotrophic bacteria with water turbidity and area to swimmer also has a significant relationship. In this study, there was no significant relationship between swimming pool pollution with pool area.
According to the results, observance of the sanitary regulations of the pool and technical issues can be effective in reducing microbial and heterotrophs contamination.

Discharge of phosphorous into surface water causes excessive growth of algae and aquatic plants followed by Eutrophication in lakes and rivers. Thus eliminating it from water supply is important. The aim of the present study is application of magnetic activated carbon to remove phosphate from aqueous solutions.
Effects of operational parameters such as pH, initial concentration of phosphate, adsorbent dose and reaction time to remove phosphate was investigate in a batch reactor.
Adsorption efficiency increased significantly by increasing the initial concentration of phosphate, reaction time, adsorbent dose and pH to 7. On the other hand, the maximum removal of phosphate (98.7%) occurred at 5 mg/L of phosphate concentration, pH=7, adsorbent dosage of 0.8 g/L and contact time of 30 min.
The high efficacy of the adsorption process in this study showed that magnetic activated carbon had good capability in the removal of phosphate and can be used as an appropriate and new method for phosphate removal from aqueous solutions.

Amoxicillin is the most commonly used antibiotics that draws more attractions due to induce bacterial resistance.
This compound can enter the aquatic environment through different routes including sewage and waste disposal of medical health centers, veterinary and industries. The aim of this study was removal of amoxicillin from aqueous environments by Electro-Fenton process using modified graphite felt and synthesized Fe3O4 nanoparticles.
Fe3O4 nanoparticles were synthesized by co- precipitation method. Graphite felt also modified due to avoid aeration. The structural and physical characteristics of nanocatalyst and also modified graphite felt were analyzed by SEM, EDS and BET techniques. After optimization of pH and time variables, the parameters of applied current, amoxicillin concentration, catalyst load and the distance between electrodes were designed using Design Expert 7.0 software and optimized by the response surface method.
The graphite felt modification resulted in increase in surface area from 0.89 to 1.92 m2/g. The maximum removal of amoxicillin (97.11%) was obtained in optimal operational conditions (pH=3, time=60 min, applied current =180 mA, amoxicillin concentration=20 mg/L, catalyst load 1 g/L, the distance between electrodes =2 cm)
The result of this study indicated that electro-Fenton process using Fe3O4 nanoparticles and modified Graphite felt without external aeration is an effective method for amoxicillin removal.