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Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in a compost facility: heavy metal contaminations and health risk assessment, Tehran, Iran

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the concentration of PM2.5 particles, potential sources, and determination of health risk assessment of heavy metals in various parts of composting facilities of Tehran’s Kahrizak. A total of 60 PM2.5 particle samples were collected every 3 days from January to March 2016. To analyze the heavy metals, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) was applied. SEM-EDX analysis indicated that metals of Al, Si, Mg, Na, Au, S, Ca, K, and Co were dominant in the structure of particles. The concentration of PM2.5 was found to be the highest in the final processing site (c), followed by primary processing site (a) and the aerated site (b). The mean concentrations of Al and Fe in all sampling sites of a, b, and c were 7.46 ± 2.73, 1.48 ± 0.59, 24.30 ± 8.23 μg/m3 and 4.97 ± 2.83, 1.33 ± 0.48, 16.48 ± 7.36, respectively. The enrichment factor order of the trace elements was as follows: Cd > As > Pb > Zn > Cu > V > Cr > Ni > Mn > Fe > Al, with the highest EF value exceeding 10,000 for Cd at the a site. For all sampling sites in composting facilities, the cancer risk was more than > 1 × 10−4 as posed by the total of five carcinogenic metals (Pb, Cr, As, Ni, and Cd), indicating that risk factors were not negligible.

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Acknowledgements

This article is based on the data set from an MSc thesis (Zohreh Bahmani). This work was funded by Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (grant no. 27592). The authors acknowledge Iran University of Medical Sciences, for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Environmental Health Technology, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Majid Kermani

  2. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Majid Kermani, Mahdi Farzadkia, Roshanak Rezaei Kalantari & Zohreh Bahmani

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  1. Majid Kermani
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  2. Mahdi Farzadkia
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  3. Roshanak Rezaei Kalantari
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  4. Zohreh Bahmani
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Correspondence to Zohreh Bahmani.

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Kermani, M., Farzadkia, M., Kalantari, R.R. et al. Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in a compost facility: heavy metal contaminations and health risk assessment, Tehran, Iran. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 15715–15725 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1625-y

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