ASSESSMENT OF RADIOLOGICAL AND HEAVY METALPOLLUTION DUE TO CEMENT INDUSTRY IN OBAJANA AND ITS ENVIRONS, NIGERIA
ASSESSMENT OF RADIOLOGICAL AND HEAVY METALPOLLUTION DUE TO CEMENT INDUSTRY IN OBAJANA AND ITS ENVIRONS, NIGERIA
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Date
2018-10
Authors
AYODEJI, Bello Iibrahim
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Abstract
The Radiological and heavy metal concentration due to cement production activities in Obajana cement factory and environs were investigated. A total of twelve (12) Soil samples, six (6) Cement finished product, ten (10) water samples, six (6) rock samples, six (6) and plant crop (Cassava) were collected and analyzed. The radiation dose level of all sampling point were measured with a portable survey meter (Rados model RDS 120). Gamma spectrometry using NaI(Tl) detector was used in determining the activity concentration of primodial radionuclides in solid samples, water samples were analyzed using MPC 2000 gross Alpha/Beta counter for gross Beta and Alpha radioactivity, Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) was used for the analysis of some selected heavy metals in Water and Rock samples, while Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) was used for elemental concentrations in soil samples. The mean activity concentration of primordial radionuclides (226Ra, 232Th and 40K) in soil, mining site, Cement finished product and Cassava were found to be: (47.2956, 77.5699, 601.8127)Bqkg-1, (26.84435, 59.98768, 362.3639) Bqkg-1, (36.0011, 49.2077, 146.6098) Bqkg-1, and (20.3514, 37.4710, 164.4322)Bqkg-1 respectively, which were slightly below world standard. Transfer Factor (TF) of natural radionuclide (0.428, 0.531, 0.398) for(226Ra, 232Th and 40K) respectively, from soil to the selected cultivated crops around the farms closed to the factory were below the World standard of unity and varied in order of 232Th >226Ra >40K. There exists strong positive correlation (p < 0.05) between 226Rasoil and 226Rafood (R = 0.9699), which suggest that these radionuclides originated from the same source for individual environmental matrix. The alpha and beta geometric mean of the whole samples were found to be 0.0156±0.01487 Bq/l and 10.9±13.8373 Bq/l respectively. All the samples were below the regulation for gross alpha activity in portable water. Also, about 20% of the samples were below regulation for gross beta activity and 80% of the samples have above regulation for gross beta activity in portable water. The highest heavy metals concentration in Water and Rock samples corresponds to Zn. The increasing trend was in the order of Zn > Cu > Cd > Pb > Cr. The heavy metals were detected at varying concentrations in the samples except for Cr and Pb, which were not detected in some samples due to the detection limit of the machine used. The soil around the factory had high concentration of common low toxic metals Na (15169.333 mg/kg), K (80493.333 mg/kg), Ba (1039.3 mg/kg) and Fe (8977.83 mg/kg), high concentration of two toxic metals Cr (10.188 mg/kg) and Co (3.501 mg/kg) were detected.The average concentration of most heavy metals around the study area compared favorably with other related published studies for soil around Cement Factory.
Description
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PhD) RADIATION BIOPHYSICS DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS,
FACULTY OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, NIGERIA
Keywords
ASSESSMENT,, RADIOLOGICAL,, HEAVY METALPOLLUTION,, CEMENT INDUSTRY,, OBAJANA,, ENVIRONS,, NIGERIA