Effect of sunlight exposure and storage duration and temperature on release of heavy metals from polyethylene terephthalate drinking water bottles

Background and purpose: Bottled water is widely packaged and distributed in PolyethyleneTerphthalate (PET) bottles with plastic caps. Plastic materials in bottles, and other additives such as heavy metals, can leak into water during manufacturing or storage process in different ambient conditions. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of sunlight and environmental temperature on the release of heavy metals from PET bottles into water. Materials and methods: The study was conducted in six brands of bottled water (0.5 L) in five provinces of Iran, 2015. The levels of Pb, Ni, Cd and Sb were determined in bottled waters in different conditions including room-temperature of 27±2°C, sun exposure to 45±3°C, and with/without foil coating. Different temperatures (45°C, 60°C and 75°C) were also used in specified time ranges from 5 to 50 days. Measurement was done by ICP-AES and data was analyzed in Minitab. Results: Concentrations of Pb, Ni and Cd in bottled water did not show any significant changes in direct sunlight exposure and ambient temperature but Sb concentration was found to be higher in all samples when storage duration increased. In some samples, it even exceeded the maximum allowed value (5 ppb).Conclusion: Direct radiation exposure to sunlight, increasing the ambient temperature and storage duration, lead to increase in concentration of antimony in bottled water. © 2016, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Ozone-assisted photocatalytic degradation of gaseous toluene from waste air stream using silica-functionalized graphene oxide/ZnO coated on fiberglass: performance, intermediates, and mechanistic pathways

The present study focused on the potential of an ozone-assisted photocatalytic process using the catalyst silica-functionalized graphene oxide/ZnO coated on fiberglass (Si-GO/ZnO-FG) in the removal of toluene from waste air stream. Here, a comparative examination was performed in terms of toluene removal efficiency in the photocatalytic process (UV/Si-GO/ZnO-FG) and photocatalytic ozonation (O3/UV/Si-GO/ZnO-FG). The gaseous intermediates resulting from degradation of toluene by different processes were analyzed using GC-MS. The results of this study indicated that with the addition of ozone to the UV/Si-GO/ZnO-FG process, toluene removal increased significantly from 76.18 to 87.8%. The reason for this incremental efficiency can be explained by the fact that with the addition of ozone, the production rate and the extent of hydroxyl radical (OH•) production grow significantly; thereby, more pathways are developed for toluene degradation. The major byproducts in toluene oxidation by photocatalytic and photocatalytic ozonation processes include formic acid, acetic acid, benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde, p-cresol, hydroquinone, and benzoic acid. Given the intermediates and the dominant oxidants detected in the aforementioned process, the possible toluene degradation pathway by the utilized process was suggested

Impact of exposure to ambient air pollutants on the admission rate of hospitals for asthma disease in Shiraz, southern Iran

Asthma is a common chronic respiratory disease in the world. Short-term exposure to ambient air pollutants is closely related to acute respiratory diseases and asthmatic symptoms. The purpose of this research was to estimate the correlation between exposure to three air pollutants (O3, NO2, and SO2) and hospital admission because of asthmatic disease (HAAD) in the city of Shiraz, southern Iran. The data were collected from the two real-time monitoring stations located in this city. The acquired information was used for developing predictive models by the AirQ software. The findings of this study were reported for two age groups (<15 and 15–64 years old). The highest levels of O3, NO2, and SO2 were obtained 187.33 μg/m3, 34.1 μg/m3, and 491.2 μg/m3 in 2016, respectively, and 227.75 μg/m3, 92.26 μg/m3, and 190.21 μg/m3, respectively, in 2017. Among the mentioned pollutants, the yearly average concentration of SO2 was 8.62 times more than the WHO guideline, during the studied times. The number of extra cases of HAAD for <15 years and 15–64 years caused by the air pollutants in Shiraz were estimated to be 273 and 36, respectively, in 2016, and 243 and 30 for 2017, respectively. The results of this work displayed that air pollutants have caused respiratory problems in Shiraz city. The AirQ model is a facile and potential tool for the prediction of asthma disease to reduce the health risk of atmospheric pollutants in the worldwide

Occurrence, potential sources, in vitro bioaccessibility and health risk assessment of heavy metal in indoor dust from different microenvironment of Bushehr, Iran

Indoor dust samples were collected from 42 microenvironments of residential buildings (RB, 15 samples), official buildings (OB, 10 samples), laboratory rooms (LR, 7 samples), and school classroom (SCR, 10 samples) in Bushehr, whereby the concentration of zinc, copper, lead, cadmium, nickel, and chromium was studied. The results of this study indicated that the mean concentrations of Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, Cr, and Ni in the indoor dust samples were 567.18, 186.09, 209.01, 5.31, 143.20, and 57.09 mg/kg in RB, 1077.34, 539.67, 274.89, 8.12, 155.30, and 92.55 mg/kg in OB, 246.40, 149.56, 127.2, 1.96, 43.45, and 91.09 mg/kg in LR and 271.43, 189.84, 164.44, 3.06, 124.20, and 70.09 mg/kg in SCR. The results of principal cluster analysis showed that the heavy metals in indoor environments were mostly originated from smoking tobacco and cigarette, traffic sources, old building materials, and building paint colors. The results of this study also revealed that the concentration of heavy metals in indoor dust had a negative and significant relationship (P value < 0.05 in most cases) with rate of ventilation, and a positive and significant relationship with smoking inside buildings (P value < 0.05 in most cases). The bioaccessibility for zinc, copper, lead, cadmium, nickel, and chromium was 69.12, 40.08, 43.33, 79.81, 31.10, and 6.31%, respectively, in indoor dust. Further, risk assessment showed that the risk values of carcinogenicity and non-carcinogenicity resulting from heavy metals inside the studied microenvironments had exceeded the recommended safe limit by EPA. In terms of potential ecological risks, it was found that heavy metals in these microenvironments have exceeded the hazardous ecological levels presented by different indices and can have considerable negative ecological effects. Thus, it is essential that further and better studies and monitoring be performed on these environments, and suitable control recommendations and solutions should be regulated for this public health threat

Development and implementation of water safety plans for groundwater resources in the southernmost city of West Azerbaijan Province, Iran

The transfer of water from the source to the consumption point is always associated with the possibility of contamination in any of its various components. To resolve this problem, the World Health Organization has considered a water safety plan. The purpose of this study is to implement water safety plan in the water supply system of Bukan city. This study was performed on Bukan’s water supply system in 2019–20 using a software to guarantee the quality of the water safety plan and the WHO and IWA guidelines. The software checklists were prepared and after confirming the validity of the translation and its facial and content validity, it was completed based on the records of the Water and Sewerage Company and interviews with experts. Out of a total of 440 points of full-application of the program and 392 points for the reviewed phases, 183.6 points were acquired and 43.7% of WSP-coordinated implementation was observed. The highest percentage of WSP-coordinated implementation (75.2%) was assigned to the validation stage with the highest point, and the support program stage had the lowest percentage of performance (1.1%). Among the major components of the water supply system, the final consumption point received the most attention from the system. Given the lifespan of the introduction and use of WSP in the world, it was expected that better results would be obtained from evaluating the implementation and progress of this approach in Bukan’s water supply system. However, the implementation rate of this program in this city compared to other cities in Iran, showed that according to the implementation time (one year), the obtained results are relatively convincing and good and the water supply system has a moderate level of safety

Characterization, possible sources and health risk assessment of PM2.5-bound Heavy Metals in the most industrial city of Iran

Air pollution associated with particulate matters results in different types of disease including allergy, lung destruction, heart failure, and related problems. This study has been designed and performed to examine the concentration of PM2.5-bound heavy metals, risk assessment, possible sources and effect of meteorological parameters on 17 sites of the air of the most industrial city of Iran (Karaj) in 2018-19. For this purpose, four samples were taken from every point of Karaj air over one year using a pump (Leland Legacy (SKC)) with flow rate of 3 L/min on PTFE filter for 24 h. Overall, 68 samples of PM2.5-bound heavy metals were collected. Note that during the sampling, atmospheric parameters including temperature, pressure, humidity, and wind speed were regularly recorded using PHB318 portable device. In examining the chemical composition of these particles, the concentration of metals (Al-Zn- Ar-Cd-Cr-Cu-Fe-Hg-Mn-Ni-Pb) was determined after digestion of the collected samples and through injection into ICP-OEC device. The results indicated that the mean annual concentration of PM2.5 particles range from 21.84 to 72.75 µg/m3. The mean concentration of heavy metals lied within the range of 25.63 to 336.27 ng/m3. Among heavy metals, the maximum concentration belonged to aluminum (277.95 ng/m3) and iron (336.27 ng/m3), which are known as elements with a ground source (sources such as car fuels, exhaust gases, decorative materials, batteries, indoor smoking, the paint used for painting walls, erosion and corrosion of rubber of cars). Meanwhile, there was a positive relationship between heavy metals and temperature(r: 0.418, p < 0.019), pressure (r: 0.184, p < 0.0.402), as well as wind speed (r: 0.38, p < 0.017), while an inverse relationship was observed with relative humidity (r: -0.219, p < 0.018). The ecological risk of the metals calculated was very notable, with the maximum environmental risk being related to cadmium in children (6.61) and manganese in adults (0.82). The largest HQ in children and adults was associated with Cr. Finally, ILCR values for cadmium in both children (1.19 E-04) and adult (4.81 E-04) groups indicated high risk of developing cancer in humans

Concentrations, spatial distribution, and human health risk assessment of asbestos fibers in ambient air of Tehran, Iran

The aim of current research was to determine airborne asbestos fiber concentrations in the ambient air of Tehran, and to investigate their spatial distribution, seasonal variation, and human health risk assessment. For this, the sampling of the study was carried out during August 2017 and June 2018, and totally, 64 samples were taken from 8 stations along the different areas of Tehran. The concentrations of airborne asbestos fibers were determined by phase contrast microscope (PCM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses. Spatial mapping was conducted using the inverse distance weighting (IDW) technique. The health risk assessment was done based on the detected levels of airborne asbestosis fibers. The mean concentrations of the airborne asbestos fiber were 1.9 × 10−3 f/ml and 595 × 10−3 f/ml based on PCM and SEM analyses, respectively. One of the effective factors on ambient level of asbestos fibers is meteorological parameters, where the maximum and minimum concentrations of asbestos fibers are related to cold and warm seasons, respectively. These differences could be due to the presence of inversions phenomenon in cold seasons in Tehran. It was observed that the excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR) calculated for all the sampling areas are between 5.26 × 10−5 and 5.37 × 10−4. Based on the EPA-suggested standards (10−4–10−6), these values are categorized rather to moderate levels. The obtained data indicated no threat of asbestos fibers to Tehran’s citizens’ health

Load characteristics and inhalation risk assessment of benzene series (BTEX) pollutant in indoor air of Ghalyan and/ or cigarette cafes compared to smoking-free cafes

To determine the concentration of benzene series (BTEX) compounds, 33 samples were collected from indoor air of Ghalyan cafés (GHC), cigarette cafés (CC) and smoking-free cafés (SFC) in Bushehr city, Iran, and analyzed using gas-chromatography - flame ionization detector (GC-FID). The results of this study indicated that the mean±SD values of ΣBTEX in GHC, CC and SFC cafés were 19.46 ± 6.07, 11.34 ± 5.21 and 2.26 ± 0.76 mg/m3, respectively. The mean concentration of BTEX in the cafés with fruit-flavored tobacco was significantly higher than those in traditional cafés (p < 0.05). According to path analysis, the number of active waterpipe heads had the maximum impact on the production of pollutants inside the cafés. The results also indicated that the risk of exposure to BTEX in smoking cafés in Bushehr was very high; it can develop serious carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic risks

Load characteristics, in vitro bioaccessibility and health risk assessment of PM2.5–bounded heavy metals in indoor air of waterpipe and/ or cigarette cafes compared to smoking-free cafes

Samples of PM2.5 particulates were collected from indoor air of 36 cafés, 14 cafés in which only water pipe (WS) was used, eight in which only cigarette was smoked (CC), six in which both waterpipe and cigarette were smoked (WCC), and eight cafés in which no smoking occurred (SFC) in Tehran. After that, the concentration of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), nickel(Ni), and chromium (Cr) was examined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) (GF 5000, Australia). The results indicated that the ƩMetal concentration (Mean ±SD) in WCC, WC, CC, and SFC cafés were 1118.5±50.42, 663.64±40.79, 425.57±17.55, and 79.02±5.13 ng/m3, respectively. The mean bioaccessibility of Pb, Cr, Ni, and Cd was obtained as 39.7, 31.4, 7.35, and 74.6, respectively. The results of risk assessment indicated that exposure to heavy metals in the indoor air of smoking cafés of Tehran is considered high. © 2020, © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Toxic heavy metals and nutrient concentration in the milk of goat herds in two Iranian industrial and non-industrial zones

This work aimed to explore the concentration of nickel, manganese, iron, copper, chromium, and lead in the milk of goat herds in the industrial area of Asaluyeh (southern Iran) and the non-industrial area of Kaki. The milk of 16 goat herds (each herd had at least ten goats) was collected in several villages in each area, and at the same time, the drinking water and forage of goats were sampled. The concentration of elements in the samples was determined by ICP-OES. The mean concentrations of chromium, copper, iron, manganese, lead, and nickel in milk samples of the Asaluyeh area were 16.423 ± 0.349, 0.146 ± 0.118, 6.111 ± 0.501, 0.239 ± 0.016, 0.141 ± 0.030, and 1.447 ± 0.101 mg/kg, respectively. Concentrations of heavy metals (except for copper) in the milk of goats in the industrialized area of Asaluyeh were significantly higher than that of Kaki (P < 0.05). Also, the content of heavy metals was significantly correlated with lactose levels (P < 0.05). The hazard index for drinking the goat milk was computed to be 0.444 and 0.386 for the Asaluyeh and Kaki area, respectively, which shows a minimal effect of this exposure pathway