Heavy Metal(loid)s Source Apportionment and Ecological-health Risk Assessment of a Typical Non-ferrous Metal Smelting Plant
Elucidating the concentration and sources of heavy metals in soil at decommissioned smelting plant sites is important for future soil utilization and ecological function restoration.This study examines typical metal(loid)s(arsenic,cadmium,chromium,copper,mercury,nickel,lead,and zinc)in soils from the decommissioned Shenyang(China)non-ferrous metal processing factory site.Spatial distribution of metal(loid)s was characterized through inverse distance weighting interpolation and mathematical statistics.Sources of soil heavy metal(loid)s were also quantified using principal component analysis(PCA)and positive matrix factorization(PMF)receptor models.The potential ecological risk index method and health risk assessment model was employed to assess ecological and health risks of these metals.Results indicated that the mean concentrations of As,Cd,Cr,Cu,Hg,Ni,Pb,and Zn were much higher than the background soil values in Liaoning Province,China.Notably,Cd and Cu levels were 44.57 and 34.97 times of the provincial background values,indicating severe contamination.Regions with As,Pb,Zn,Cu,Ni,and Cd concentrations(excluding Hg and Cr)exceeding GB 36600-2018 standard need to be given special attention.Among the eight metal(loid)s,preliminary correlation and cluster analysis determined that As,Pb,and Zn derived from an identical source,and Cu,Hg,and Ni originated from another source.In addition,the source of Cd was related to the aforementioned sources,whereas Cr had a very different source from the other metals.Based on the PCA results,quantitative analysis via the PMF model suggested that heavy metal(loid)s in soils were primarily derived from zinc and copper smelting activities,fuel and auxiliary material emissions and natural sources.The ecological risk assessment shows that among the eight heavy metals at the research site,Cd from fuel and auxiliary materials posed a markedly elevated ecological risk and should be prioritized for prevention,control and remediation in the subsequent ecological restoration of the site.The health risk assessment indicates that metal(loid)s such as Pb and Cr emitted from fuel and auxiliary material pose an unacceptable carcinogenic risk to the local population,and therefore pollution control of heavy metals is required prior to the subsequent site development.
heavy metal(loid)PMFsmelting plantsource apportionmentrisk assessment
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NSTL
万方数据
