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Mercury and Aluminium in Arable Soils in the Area of Influence of Brown Coal Mine and Power Plant Based on the Example of the Bogatynia Region (Southwestern Poland)

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Mercury and Aluminium in Arable Soils in the Area of Influence of Brown Coal Mine and Power Plant Based on the Example of the Bogatynia Region (Southwestern Poland) Journal of Ecological Engineering Volume 15, No. 2, April 2014, pp. 60–66 DOI: 10.12911/22998993.1094979 Research Article MERCURY AND ALUMINIUM IN ARABLE SOILS IN THE AREA OF INFLUENCE OF BROWN COAL MINE AND POWER PLANT BASED ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE BOGATYNIA REGION (SOUTHWESTERN POLAND) Ewa Kucharczak-Moryl1, Andrzej Moryl2, Jolanta Dąbrowska3, Romuald Żmuda4 1 Department of Biochemistry, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, 31 Norwida Str., 50-375 Wroclaw, Poland, e-mail: [email protected] 2 Institute of Environmental Engineering, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, 24 Grunwaldzki Sq., 50-363 Wrocław, Poland, e-mail: [email protected] 3 Institute of Environmental Engineering, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, 24 Grunwaldzki Sq., 50-363 Wrocław, Poland, e-mail: [email protected] 4 Institute of Environmental Protection and Development, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, 24 Grunwaldzki Sq., 50-363 Wrocław, Poland, e-mail: [email protected] Received: 2014.01.31 ABSTRACT Accepted: 2014.03.10 This study presents research on the content of mercury and aluminium in arable soils Published: 2014.04.04 within the range of influence of the Coal Mine and Power Plant Turów (Bogatynia re- gion). The results were compared for reference with the region of Zgorzelec, which is situated outside the range of emission and with the results of tests conducted by other authors. The tests did not show a statistically significant increase in the mercury level in arable land from the range of influence of the Coal Mine and Power PlantTurów, neither in comparison to soils from Zgorzelec region. It is noticeable that the maximum level of mercury in the analysed area was nearly twice as high as in the values obtained in soils from industrial area in Opole and 25 times lower than the maximum mercury level found in the soils of Jelenia Góra District. On the other hand, tests of aluminium content showed a significant, nearly 3 times higher level of this metal in the range of direct influ- ence of the Coal Mine and Power Plant Turów in comparison with the Zgorzelec region. The noted values were higher than in soils from industrial area in Opole. Keywords: soil, mercury, aluminium, contaminated soils, industrial contamination. INTRODUCTION energy production areas are more exposed to soil contamination, in comparison to other regions. In Diffuse pollution is one of the main threats spite of the promotion of renewable energy sourc- for soil. This type of contamination is charac- es, the interest in the usage of coal as the main teristic for strongly industrialized areas. One of energetic resource is not decreasing [6]. It is be- the major sources of this type of contamination lieved that coal will continue to play the main role is opencast and underground coal mining, the in the global structure of energy sources as the connected usage of the mined material in energy power consumption continues to increase. More- production and the storage of industrial waste. over, in spite of the application of new technolo- Regions where large quantities of coal are mined gies limiting the emission of harmful substances, and processed are located throughout the world, the problem of contamination resulting from the mainly in China, the USA, Australia, Indonesia mining and processing of coal and its impact on and South Africa. In Europe the problem exists, the environment will continue to worsen. among others, in Germany and Poland (Tables 1 The problem presented in this study is sig- and 2). These results in the fact that mining and nificant also due to the obligations resulting from 60 Journal of Ecological Engineering vol. 15(2), 2014 Table 1. Coal in electricity generation in 2012 accord- led to a decrease in the emission of air pollutants ing to the statistics by World Coal Association [30] from power plants located in this region by ap- Country Coal in electricity generation (%) proximately 60-70%, which has undoubtedly Mongolia 98 contributed to the improvement of the condition South Africa 94 of the natural environment [22]. The aim of the conducted study was to de- Poland 86 termine the total content of mercury and alumin- PR China 81 ium in samples of arable soils collected within Australia 69 the influence range of the Coal Mine and Power India 68 Plant Turów, to compare the obtained results with Israel 59 Zgorzelec region, located outside the range of Indonesia 44 emitters, with results obtained by other authors USA 43 for this region, the geochemical background of Germany 43 Poland and with results obtained for areas that UK 29 were subject to similar types of anthropogenic Japan 27 pressure in other countries. The research hypothe- sis assumed that there is a connection between the Table. 2. Top 10 coal producers in 2012 according to emission of pollutants from the Coal Mine and the statistics by World Coal Association [30] Power Plant Turów and the content of mercury and aluminium in the Bogatynia region and that Country Coal production (Mt) the obtained results should be significantly higher PR China 3549 than the values obtained in the Zgorzelec region USA 935 and the geochemical background of Poland. India 595 Indonesia 443 Australia 421 MATERIAL AND METHODS Russia 359 The study was conducted in the years 2008- South Africa 259 2011 as part of the evaluation of content of metals Germany 197 in abiotic and biotic elements of the environment Poland 144 in Southwestern Poland. Soil samples originated Kazachstan 126 from two regions: • Bogatynia (localities: Bogatynia, Działoszyn, Poland’s membership in the EU and the imple- Bratków, Ręczyn, Wyszków, Wolanów), en- mentation of the IPCC (Integrated Pollution Pre- compassing the area of influence of the Coal vention and Control) Directive, including the cre- Mine and Power Plant Turów. ation of European Pollutant Release and Transfer • Zgorzelec (localities: Jerzmanki, Łagów, Ja- Register (E-PRTR) and EMEP (European Moni- godzin, Gronów, Sławnikowice), situated out- toring and Evaluation Programme). Mercury is side the range of direct influence of emitters. considered as a priority harmful substance, which A total of 64 soil samples, collected at the depth was included in the Water Framework Directive. of 0.0 to 0.3 m b.g.s. (below ground surface) and One of the areas prone to contamination con- from 0.3 to 0.6 m b.g.s. were analysed (Figure 1). nected with the mining and processing of brown The AAS method with amalgamation of cold coal in energy production in Poland is the Bo- mercury vapour with the use of the mercury anal- gatynia region. Sources of gaseous and dust pol- yser MA 2000 was used to determine the content lutants are two main facilities on the Polish side, of total mercury was determined directly in air i.e. Coal Mine and Power Plant Turów, but also dry mass of soil. In order to determine the con- some plants located on the territory of the Czech tent of total aluminium in soil 0.5 g of weighed Republic, and, until recently, on the German side quantity was subject to wet mineralisation in aqua of the border. It is estimated that cross-border pol- regia with use of hypotension microwave system. lutants inflowing to Poland account for as much In the obtained mineralisate, the content of total as 60% of the contamination. Integrated environ- aluminium was determined with the ICP-AES mental activities that were started in mid-1990s method, with use of plasma spectrometer Varian- 61 Journal of Ecological Engineering vol. 15(2), 2014 Figure 1. Location of sampling areas Liberty 220. The obtained results were subject of heavy metals. At the depth from 0.3 to 0.6 m to statistical analysis, including the calculation of the average content of organic matter varied from arithmetical mean and standard deviation. The t- 2.52 to 4.62 % (Table 3). Soils from the Bogatyn- student test was used for the purposes of statistical ia region are medium and heavy silty soils (silt analysis. The value p ≤ 0.05 was assumed as sta- loam) with a high content of silt fraction, whereas tistically significant difference. The analyses took soils in the proximity of Zgorzelec include very into account the physical and chemical properties light, light and medium soils (sand, loamy sand, of samples: the content of organic matter and grain sandy loam), in which a high content of sand frac- size distribution, which are the key factors influ- tion was found [9, 15, 21]. encing the content of heavy metals in soils. Mercury RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Mercury belongs to the group of chemical elements that are characterised by particularly Basic characteristic of soil samples strong chemical and biological activity and vari- ability of the forms of existence [5]. It is one of Soils from both regions are characterised by the strongest environmental poisons and its toxic- an acidic pH (Table 4). The pH values measured ity depends on the form. in 1M KCl for all analysed samples fell within In Poland there are no deposits of mercury the pH range from 4.70 to pH 6.22. while mea- ore. The main sources of this element in raw ma- sured in H2O fell into the range from pH 3.42 to terials mined in our country are brown coal, cop- pH 6.42. In both analysed regions the content of per ore and hard coal (Table 4). The average mer- organic matter was higher at the depth from 0.0 cury content in Polish brown coal is 332 ppb. In to 0.3 m and it fell within the range from 2.83 to the Turów deposit maximum values reaching 950 7.60 %, which is beneficial for the neutralisation ppb were noted.
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