Anthropogenic Pollution Journal
Volume:4 Issue: 2, Summer and Autumn 2020

Particulate Matter (PM) is the primary culprit behind reduced air quality in urban areas. Although PM consists of various compounds, heavy metals are essential constituents because of their harmful effects on human health. The purpose of this study was to determine heavy metals concentrations in atmospheric PM10 in ambient air of Ahvaz, Iran. and also assessing their health risk on the resident of Ahvaz. In 2010, the World Health Organization named Ahvaz as the world's most polluted city. Ambient air was sampled at five locations around the city in winter 2018 and summer 2019 to measure PM10 according to ASTM; D4096 Standard. Further, the air sampling filters were analyzed by the acid digestion method and atomic emission spectroscopy to determine the concentration of 8 heavy metals in the particulates—namely Cu, As, Ni, Pb, Cd, Fe, Zn, and Cr. The PM10 concentrations in ambient air ranged from 22.335 to 463.36μg/m3. The lowest concentration was observed at Station 3 northeast of the city in winter and the highest at Station 1 in the city center in the summer. The IRIS method was used in accordance with the EPA Guidelines for risk assessment. The results of non-carcinogenic risk assessment indicated that HQ is greater than 1 for long-term hazard and less than 1 for short-term hazard. As for carcinogenic risk assessment, the lifetime risk of developing or dying from cancer is 519 per 1 million among the residents of Ahvaz, which exceeds the permissible limits according to most standards—that state some figure between 1 and 100 per 1 million.

Emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are major causes of tropospheric ozone and aerosol pollutions. This research provided information on ozone formation potential (OFP) and toxicity potential (TP) resulting from VOCs emission from a Nigeria petroleum depot. In this work, speciated VOCs were provided on basis of updated emissions within and around the depot. The observed concentration of individual VOCs and maximum incremental reactivity (MIR) coefficient were applied to assess the OFP of individual VOC in the ambient atmosphere. Major aromatic VOCs species were considered at various locations. The total OFP in the atmosphere of the depot is 1522.42 μg O3/m3. Toluene specie was revealed to be major contributor to OFP with 71.47% while others species were in descending order of benzene (9.16%), m-xylene (8.41%), ethyl benzene (3.98%), p-xylene (3.51%) and o-xylene (3.46%). The TP levels of aerosols pollutions were also reported with respect to locations. The Slop tank area had the highest OFP and TP level. An assessment of TP level and OFP suggests that occupants of some location within the depot are exposed to unhealthy air conditions. The study established that OFP and TP have a relationship within the atmosphere of the depot with respect to location. It is recommended that aggressive controlled measures of VOCs sources should be adopted within the petroleum depot as a way of curtailing the impact of tropospheric ozone and aerosol pollutions.

Pollution of water by heavy metals is a major problem such as mercury, lead, cadmium, cobalt, etc. The presence of toxic metals in the environment has detrimental effects on human and animal health and disrupts the balance and order of the ecosystem. Therefore, it is necessary to study the ways to eliminate these pollutants. The aim of this study was to compare nickel metal uptake by biological uptake methods with the help of bacterium and brown algae Sargasom, Focus and Grasilaria red algae and nanotechnology method. Based on the previous interpretations, the processes of removal of nickel from industrial wastewater was compared. Research question is that which method is more effective for removal of heavy metals? Results show that biosorption, as an environmentally friendly method, has a brilliant performance and is a low-cost internal method for wastewater treatment. The biological treatment of effluents is carried out by bacteria, some fungi, algae and protozoa to examine the conversion of effluent into a harmless state. Also results show that Iron-based nanostructured particles are capable of decomposing highly stable contaminants such as perchlorate compounds, air nitrate, heavy metals (nickel and mercury) and radioactive materials such as uranium dioxide. Nanostructured particles are used for immediate treatment of sediments, water treatment and liquid waste.

Nanoparticles (NPs) are causing threats to the environment. In this review, we examined how hematite (Fe2O3) and cobalt oxide (Co2O3) nanoparticles impact the species of freshwater green algae Chlorella vulgaris (C. vulgaris). We exposed laboratory cultures to five initial concentrations of nanoparticles and measured impacts on species in 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, and 144 hours in Karun River water at 20-25°C. Our results indicated that Fe2O3 and Co2O3 NPs significantly (dependent on concentration) reduced the chlorophyll a, b, and carotenoid contents of algae C. vulgaris compared to the control group (P <0.05). Also, due to the combination of these two nanoparticles, Co2O3 (50 Fe2O3 +100 Co2O3) has a more negative effect on algae chlorophyll change. According to the data, the exposure concentration was also found to be a more effective factor in the Chlorophyll content in algae species as compared to the exposure time. Our study suggests this nanoparticle has potential to affect aquatic life and ecosystem properties of freshwater habitats.

Over the past few decades, human societies have faced one of the most significant consequences of industrial development. That is the improper transportation and disposal of hazardous and industrial-specific waste, which accounts for a large share of the total pollution of the environment, and its destructive effects on creating environmental crises are quite evident. The plating industry is one of the main consumers of toxic chemicals used for different applications. However, because of the lack of a comprehensive model, hazardous waste management has not yet met the current needs, and its principles still require more development. This study was carried out using tools and standards including Multi-Criteria Decision Support Systems (MCDSS) and Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) to rank the contributions of effective components to the plating industry in a case study conducted and implemented in Paitakht Industrial District of Tehran. In order to realize this objective, after extracting 10 components effective in optimizing the management of industrial wastes, questionnaires were used to survey experts to verify the components. The factors were identified using the Delphi method through the analysis of frequency carried out using a second questionnaire based on the results of the analysis of the data extracted from the first questionnaire. The results showed that components contributing to the optimal management of industrial waste included leadership and management, policy, strategy, technology and mode of collection and transportation, economic factors, policy making, expertise, culture, education, and the amount and composition of waste, in that order.

Today, with the increase in population, the use of fossil fuels has also increased, On the other hand, this increase in population has led to the production of more urban waste, which is itself the source of environmental pollution. One of the ways to reduce waste pollution is to use it to generate useful energy such as electricity, which reduces pollution and provides part of the required electrical load. In this study, the study area of Hamadan city is considered to have an average urban waste production of about 420 tons/month. Homer software has been used to analyze the amount of electricity produced, and economic and environmental analysis has also been done. One of the outstanding results of the research is the production of 229,735 kW/year of electrical energy. Electricity generation with biomass resources will reduce Co2 and Co emissions by 77.2 and 7.96 kg/year, respectively. That cost of energy(COE) for this system is 0.177$/kWh.

The estimation of carbon storage and accumulation in forest ecosystems is essential to assess the role of these ecosystems in the global carbon budget. Therefore, we considered the potential and distribution of organic carbon in the natural pure and mixed beech, oak and maple forests of Fandogloo region of Ardabil province in Iran. In each stand, 6-nested plots were used in the square shape. Four profiles were dug in each plot and the soil samples were extracted from the three deep levels. The highest amount of soil organic carbon sequestration was found in the mixed stand of oak-maple (26.35 Mg/ha). The same trend was seen in the amount of total nitrogen (TN) in the soil. The highest amount of carbon sequestration was observed in the forest floor litter in the mixed stand of maple - beech (4.11 Mg/ha). The high amount of carbon sequestration in the mixed stand of oak - maple may be due to the lower amount of clay in the soil of this stand. It is likely that the soil fertility is low in the maple–beech stand so that the activities of microorganisms are less than other stands so that due to no degradation, the accumulation of litter has occurred. Totally, the pure beech stand showed the highest amount of total carbon sequestration in the entire pure stand (61.93 Mg / ha). The high above- and belowground biomass in the beech stand was the effective factor to increase the total carbon sequestration than other stands.

The purpose of this study is to identify environmental pollution caused by tourism activities in Shahrood county and environmental risk assessment. In the first step, tourism sites (recreational-sports) in the study area were identified. In the next step, the type and extent of environmental pollution in each were identified and their zoning map was drawn. Finally, risk assessment was performed using risk assessment models. The results showed that some types of environmental pollution can be seen in these areas, but the pollution caused by solid waste has been present in all tourist sites. The daily sewage pollution rate produced by natural tourism in Shahrood is relatively high and is about 140kg/day and the waste production rate is 10 tons per year. Also; the average measured sound level is 88dB. In terms of the level of risk of pollutants, the three most common types of pollution are solid waste and then sewage. The lowest type of pollution is related to air pollution. As for air pollution, the type of risk is obvious and the level of the aspect is low. In the case of noise pollution, the type of risk is obvious and the level of risk is high. In the case of wastewater pollution and waste pollution, the type of risk, the level and the level of the aspect is the ultimate. The principles of sustainable tourism in this region have not been observed and the need to develop a comprehensive and strategic model for tourism management is essential.

The purpose of the research is to identify the types of environmental pollution crimes in Iran. This research is a theoretical type that has been done by survey and analysis and has been done in 3 stages. Initially, an initial list of environmental crimes was used by a semi-structured interview method. Sampling was determined by the targeted method and the sample size was 169 people. All interviews were implemented and coded as text. In the next step, using expert opinions and the method of pairwise comparison, environmental crimes of weighting and their importance coefficient were determined. Then, by inquiring from the legal offices of the relevant organizations, the statistics of violations and environmental crimes by the provinces of the country between the years 2017 to 2019 were obtained. The results showed that the main crimes of environmental pollution in Iran can be divided into 8 main categories. Also, 23 criteria were determined for them. Among the eight crimes of environmental pollution, the highest weight belonged to air pollution (0.876) and then water pollution (0.797). Also; the lowest weight was allocated to wave pollution (0.114). A comparative comparison between environmental pollution crimes showed that between 2017 and 2019, statistically, the highest rate of crime was related to waste pollution and then water pollution. Mazandaran province with 6674 cases of environmental crimes in the top provinces of the country and Khorasan Razavi province was introduced as the last province with 223 cases of environmental crimes.