TITLE:
Verification of Penetration of Lead in the Profile of Soil around the Former Battery Production Factory, Berat Albania
AUTHORS:
Mirela Alushllari, Nikolla Civici
KEYWORDS:
Lead, Top and Profile Soil Samples, Atomic Absorption Spectrometry
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.6 No.4,
April
21,
2015
ABSTRACT: The
current study reports the concentration of lead in top of the soil samples and
its penetration until the depth of approximately 120 cm. Representative soil samples
are collected around the former Factory Production of Batteries to Berat,
Albania at a distance 80 - 900 m from factory. We have chosen 12 sampling
points. We have collected a total of 55 samples where 31 were soil samples (12
top of soil and 19 were profile soil samples) and 24 were random vegetation
samples. All soil samples were analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry
for their lead content, at the Institute of Applied Nuclear Physics, University
of Tirana, Albania. From results obtained the fraction of lead in profile soil
samples was in range: 78 mg/kg - 52,982 mg/kg and average concentration of lead
was 2976 mg/kg, while in random vegetation samples was in range: 0.238 - 5.573
mg/kg. In general, trend of the content of lead in profile soil samples was
decreasing compared to the content of lead in the respective top soil samples.
The concentrations of lead which have been found in analyzed soil samples are
compared with the Maximum Contaminant Levels specified by the Directive
86/278/EEC. Also, we have calculated Hazardous Quoted for each sampling point
which is found very high. HQ in representative surface soil samples is 0.4 - 80.7
times higher than normal.