The environmental fate of heavy metals arising from a MSW incineration plant.
Pollutant fluxes from municipal solid waste (MSW) incinerators are of a certain concern, especially gaseous emissions from the stack, which constitute the major effluent from the plant. In this work, heavy metals in soil and vegetation sampled in different sites around the plant are compared with those found in the gaseous emissions from an incinerator: the suspected source and environmental matrices are observed together, in order to detect a possible relationship of cause and effect, using statistical methods. The incinerator examined, regarding dimension and technology, can be considered a typical Italian one. Heavy metal concentrations in soil and vegetation show a clear dependence on sampling year; similar behaviour can be found in emission fluxes referring to the same years. A dependence on the distance from the incinerator is also apparent. This study supplies a methodological approach that can be easily extended and applied to other suspected contamination sources.
Morselli
Luciano
L
Dipartimento di Chimica Industriale e dei Materiali, Università di Bologna, Italy. morselli@ms.fci.unibo.it
Passarini
Fabrizio
F
Bartoli
Michele
M
D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D017745:Incineration; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D012037:Refuse Disposal; D014835:Volatilization
D000393:Air Pollutants; D019216:Metals, Heavy