2023 CiteScore: 1.9
eISSN: 2476-3071
Editor-in-Chief:
Ramin Nabizadeh Nodehi, Ph.D.
Vol 3 No 3 (2018): Summer 2018
Original Research
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Introduction: This study aimed to determine the number of all causes such as lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), ischemic heart disease (IHD), and stroke deaths due to exposure to PM2.5 in Mashhad during March 2013-March 2017 using the AirQ+ model.
Materials and methods: Hourly concentrations of fine particulate matter were obtained from Department of Environment (DOE) of Iran, and validated according to APHEKOM study and WHO's criteria. Baseline incidence (BI) values for all-cause, COPD, lung cancer, IHD and stroke mortality was obtained from Ministry of Health and Medical Education.
Results: The annual average of (±SD) was determined for all four years and the average four- year were 36.07 (± 26.93), 27.29 (± 13.24), 30.53 (± 13.82), 30.14 (± 15.94), and 31.01 (± 10.22) µg / m3, respectively. The averages of PM2.5 concentrations during the cold months of years was higher than those in the warm months. Calculating the daily air quality index (AQI) indicated that only few days (48 days) during this period of time ( 4 years ) had a "standard" air quality and a concentration lower that 12.5 µg / m3. The total number of deaths in all the four years was 4457 cases. Furthermore, the total number of COPD, lung cancer, IHD, and stroke mortality was 146, 142, 5263, and 2608 cases, respectively. The trend of death numbers did not follow a specific direction, and some fluctuations can be observed.
Conclusions: Due to the considerable health effects of the poor air quality in Mashhad, controlling actions should be implemented to reduce the levels of air pollution. -
Introduction: Airborne particles generate acute and chronic toxic effects on the human health. Cytotoxicity of air pollutants can be investigated through cytotoxicity assays. In this study, cytotoxicity of PM10 (particles ≤ 10 μm in diameter) from dust storm and inversion condition was compared through MTT assay on the human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in vitro.
Materials and methods: PM10 was sampled in Tehran, Iran, 2016, in dust storm and inversion. PBMCs were isolated from the whole blood sample through Ficoll - Hypaque gradient method. Cells were treated with two suspensions of the PM10 from dust storm and inversion at different concentrations (50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350 and 400 µg / mL) for 24 h. Cell viability was assessed by MTT test and reported in respect to the viability in untreated cells as negative control.
Results: During the sampling period, June 6 and 12 - 15 November, 2016, were selected as the dusty and inversion days, respectively. Daily average PM10 in dust storm and inversion conditions were found of 220 and 345 µg / m3, respectively. Mean of viability in the PBMCs treated by the samples from dust storm and inversion was found 85.79 ± 9.97 % and 81.58 ± 11.72%, respectively. The cell viability values were obtained between 78 - 96 % for PM10 related dust storm condition and 70 – 92 % for PM10 sampled in inversion days.
Conclusion: The results showed that the PM10 from dust storm as well as from inversion had the cytotoxicity effects on PBMCs. The particles related to the inversion caused toxic effects more than those from dust storm at all concentrations. -
Introduction: Air pollution has become a problem in the city of Isfahan, Iran. Jewelry making workshops are one of the city’s sources of pollutants. No studies had yet been conducted to determine the emission factor for Isfahan’s jewelry making workshops. The purpose of this study was to determine the carbon monoxide emission factor obtained from the Isfahan emission factor.
Method: In the first step, jewelry making workshops were visited in Isfahan and it was found that the only source of carbon monoxide was the use of an oxy-fuel welding system for melting gold. In the second step, a pilot experiment determined the emission rate for carbon monoxide. Then, the gas consumption was measured for the oxy-fuel welding system. Next, the amount of carbon monoxide produced per cubic meter of consumed natural gas in an oxy-fuel welding system was calculated.
Results: The results of this study showed that the carbon monoxide emission factor for an oxy-fuel welding system is 0.715 kg/kg of consumed natural gas. Interviews with the managers of some of the jewelry making workshops found that on average 22 kg of natural gas is used per month by each of Isfahan’s jewelry making workshops. Each month, each jewelry making workshop produces about 15.73 kg of carbon monoxide.
Conclusion: The emission factor introduced in this study can be used to calculate the air pollutants emissions of jewelry making workshops in Isfahan to find their share of Isfahan’s air pollution. -
Introduction: Most vehicles with over 20 years of age have low combustion efficiency by no catalytic converters. One of the most important ways to control and reduce emissions from vehicles is to conduct periodic technical inspection (PTI). According to the regulations of each country, the frequency of periodic technical inspection is different and is determined by the quality of air.
Materials and methods: Data of light vehicles, which had been tested in 2010, was collected from Tehran vehicle technical inspection bureau. Collected information of data on vehicles manufactured from 2004 to 2008 including Pride, Peugeot 206, Peugeot 405, Peugeot Pars, Samand and Roa. About 248865 and 236084 vehicles were studied for HC and CO emissions, respectively.
Results: According to results one vehicle among every 6 Roa, every 14 Pride, every 22 Peugeot 405, every 40 Peugeot 206, every 125 Samand and every 111 Peugeot Pars, which were referred to technical inspection centers for first time, two years after manufacture, had higher pollutants emission compared to the permitted standards.
Conclusion: The results showed that if the periodic technical inspection intervals of vehicles increase from two years to more than two years, for example to five years, about 17.5 % of Peugeot 405 and 10.8 % of pride will be recorded for CO emissions higher than standard rate. Also, about 62 % of new vehicles will have higher levels of HC emissions, which can cause air pollution and an increase in the concentration of pollutants and eventually cause serious harm to public health. -
Introduction: Air pollution is considered as one of the important challenges in oil fields and, determination of the emission levels and to identify the way of their dispersion is the first step to control and reduce the air pollutants more effective and efficient. The objective of this study was to determine the emission rate and analysis of VOCs due to surface evaporation from oil pit at one of the petroleum companies.
Materials and methods: This study was conducted in four seasons in 2017 on the Kharg island. The environmental benzene from the pit surface was measured then, dispersion method, analysis of the emissions of these pollutants was conducted using TANKS 4.0.9d and AERMOD dispersion model in an area of 10×10 km2 with a network spacing of 200.
Results: The maximum average concentration of airborne benzene at station A (0.53 ppm) and the station H (0.59 ppm) were obtained in the spring and, station M (0.72 ppm) and the station P (0.81 ppm) were obtained in the summer which are higher than the standard limit determined by DOE and EPA. The rate of emission from the oil pit was calculated as 0.0012 g / s. The motion of the pollutant plume is from the average hourly to yearly direction to the south and the results shows that the pollutant plume is moving in the direction of the wind,
and because of low height of source of pollutants, the pollutant plume has remained in the oil pit area and has not moved.
Conclusion: In general, considering the estimation of predictions, the
performance of the AERMOD dispersion model can be considered acceptable
in predicting the concentration of benzene in the target area. -
Introduction: Lakes and surface waters are sensitive areas that have potential to pollute with different pollutant sources. Pollutants can enter the sea through inlets, drainages and atmospheric deposits. Atmospheric deposits are one of the most critical factors in increasing the pollutants in a lake. Dust storms, through the movement of plankton on the coast, increase some of the nutrients which ultimately cause the eutrophication and create red waves on the coast.
Materials and methods: Particle measurement method is described by Dust fall jar, a standard method for collecting and measuring depositional particles in the air, according to ASTM D1739-98, 2004 standards. In this method, containers with standard size and shape are used. These containers are already installed in the laboratory and finally opened and deployed on suitable sites; so particles can be deposited in it for 30 days and then the particles were weighed. Acid digestion was used to measure heavy metals, and the heavy metals were determined using the ICP device. Information about the area of the lake and the volume of water behind the dam were collected from the Iran Water Resources Management. Excel 2016 was used to perform calculations and plotting graphs.
Results: The results showed that the average dust fall particles around the Seimare dam were 10.85 g/m2.Month. On average, monthly 306 tons particles enter the dam through the air which increased the concentration of water particles by 0.32 mg /L. These particles increased the Fe and Al concentration in water to140 μg /L, 47.32 μg /L respectively.
Conclusion: Fe had the highest content among the metals and formed a bulk of particles. Then, Al, Ti, Mn, Sn, Mg, K, Cr, Ni, Ba, Ca, Zr, Pb, Sr, V, Cu, Co, Li, Zn, Y, Mo, Tl, La, Be and Cd with the lowest amount, respectively. The results showed that most of the metals had high enrichment factor (EF). This represents the anthropogenic origin of these metals.
