Analysis of snow-cap pollution for air quality assessment in the vicinity of an oil refinery

Abstract

Snow-cap can be used as a simple and effective indicator of industrial air pollution. In this study snow-cap samples were collected from 11 sites located in the vicinity of an oil refinery in Mazeikiai, a region in the north-west of Lithuania, in the winter of 2011. Analysis of snowmelt water and snow-dust was used to determine anthropogenic pollutants such as: sulphates and chlorides, nitrites, nitrates, ammonium nitrogen, total carbon, total nitrogen; heavy metals: lead (Pb), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd). Concentrations of heavy metals in snow-dust were detected thousands of times higher than those in the snowmelt water. In this study, analysis of heavy metal concentration was conducted considering different distances and the wind direction within the impact zone of the oil refinery. The sequence of heavy metals according to their mean concentrations in the snow-dust samples was the following: Pb > Cr > Cu > Cd. Heavy metals highly correlated among each other. The load of snow-dust was evaluated to determine the pollution level in the study area. The highest daily load of snow-dust was 45.81 +/- 12.35 mg/m2 in the north-western direction from the oil refinery. According to classification of the daily load of snow-dust a lower than medium-risk level of pollution was determined in the vicinity of the oil refinery.

Do moss bags containing devitalized Sphagnum denticulatum reflect heavy metal concentrations in bulk deposition?

“…Furthermore, the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) sets limits on certain air pollutants, including trace elements such as Pb and Hg, by the implementation of different laws and regulations (e.g., the 1990 Clean Air Act). As a result, several protocols regarding the way in which these elements must be determined have been established in the last few decades (e.g., Aas et al, 2009;Alonso-Rodríguez et al, 2007;Krastinyt _ e et al, 2013). The most common approach for measuring trace elements in the total atmospheric deposition involves the use of traditional or physicochemical methods.…”

Modelling the Balance of Metals in the Amended Soil for the Case of ‘Atmosphere–Plant–Soil’ System

“…It is known that the largest amounts of metals of aerogenic origin in the liquid form can be found at the distance by about three times larger from the source of pollution than the highest concentration of non-soluble (i.e. found in the dust) metals [24,30]. Metals of aerogenic origin, which are typomorphic with respect to the source of pollution, are, usually, of higher concentration in the soil [25].…”

“…6). It should be emphasised that the above-mentioned dust load (32.4 mg/ m 2 ) is referred to lower than average and less dangerous loads [2,24,43], though, in the long term (after the period of 200 years), it can cause the increase of metals' concentration in soil up to 39 % (in the case of Pb). Therefore, larger loads of mineral dust or higher concentration of metals in it will cause not a proportional, but a larger load of metals of aerogenic origin.…”

Investigation of NO2 Behaviour in the Temperate Continental Climate Road Environment

“…Among chemical industries, oil refineries have been identified as large emitters of a wide variety of pollutants (Baltrėnas et al 2011). The oil refinery in Mažeikiai is the only industry of this type not only in Lithuania but also in the entire Baltic region; therefore, this area has been the subject of ongoing scientific research for many years (Čeburnis et al 1997;Čeburnis et al 2002;Kadūnas et al 2005;Baltrėnas et al 2011;Krastinytė et al 2013;Baltrėnaitė et al 2014). During the refining of crude oil and processing of its downstream products in petrochemical complexes, a variety of gaseous pollutants (e. g. benzene (C 6 H 6 ), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NO x ), sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ) and volatile organic compounds (VOC)) along with the accompanying odours (Cetin et al 2003;McCoy et al 2010;Alonso-Hernández et al 2011), fly ashes and metalliferous particles are released into the atmosphere (Sánchez de la Campa et al 2011).…”

“…During the refining of crude oil and processing of its downstream products in petrochemical complexes, a variety of gaseous pollutants (e. g. benzene (C 6 H 6 ), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NO x ), sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ) and volatile organic compounds (VOC)) along with the accompanying odours (Cetin et al 2003;McCoy et al 2010;Alonso-Hernández et al 2011), fly ashes and metalliferous particles are released into the atmosphere (Sánchez de la Campa et al 2011). Around the oil refinery in Mažeikiai, various investigations were conducted, mostly investigations on heavy metals in different medium, such as moss (Čeburnis et al 1997;Čeburnis et al 2002;Baltrėnaitė et al 2014), snow melt water and snow dust (Kadūnas et al 2005;Krastinytė et al 2013;Baltrėnaitė et al 2014), soil (Kadūnas et al 2005;Baltrėnaitė et al 2014) and pine bark (Baltrėnaitė et al 2014). But there are too little investigations on air quality (air composition) (Baltrėnas et al 2011) carried out near petrochemical complex of Mažeikiai.…”