Abstract:
In order to understand and evaluate the pollution status and ecological safety of PAHs in soil of farmland around a municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration power plant, per the sector placement principle sample points were placed in the range of 2 km around the MSW incineration power plant that was operated for a year. The comparison points were set at 10 km from upwind of the perennial dominant wind direction. A total of 21 samples were collected according to
Technical Specification of Soil Environmental Monitoring (HJ/T 166-2004). Treated sample was extracted and concentrated by acetonitrile ultrasound, and the content of 15 PAHs was determined by HPLC method. Finally, we analyzed the spatial distribution and component characteristics of measurement. The results showed that the mean level of BaP in the soil around the plant was 9.40 μg/kg (range:0.663-96.2 μg/kg), the level of total PAHs and TEQ(BaP)
15 was 174 μg/kg (range:37.5-1382 μg/kg) and 14.6 μg/kg (1.92-135 μg/kg) respectively, which was significantly higher than those in the control area. In the downwind of dominant wind direction throughout the year, the levels of BaP, total PAHs and TEQ (BaP) were higher than those in the upwind direction and in control area. The maximum value was observed at a distance of 1 km on the downwind of dominant wind direction away from the plant. The proportion of PAHs with four or more aromatic rings was 52.5% in the samples around the plant, which was higher than that (35.3%) in the control area. The proportion of carcinogenic PAHs was 43.0% in the farmland around the plant, which was much higher than that (22.2%) in control area. There were sites with highly polluted PAHs around the plant. The levels of
w(BaP), ∑
15PAHs and TEQ(BaP)
15 were higher and increased more rapidly than those reported around the thermal power plant. All these suggested that compared with the control area, there was a rapidly increase in the contents of PAHs, especially the contents of PAHs with four or more aromatic rings, in the surface soil of farmland around a MSW incineration power plant. Therefore, we should strength the monitoring of the PAHs emissions and the environmental impact of MSW incineration power plant. Meanwhile, the risk of PAHs emissions should be fully considered in the environmental impact assessment.