Physicochemical properties and radiological hazards evaluations of some inorganic materials used in soilless agriculture

Abstract

This study aims to examine the physicochemical and radiological properties of some inorganic materials which are perlite, vermiculite, pumice, rock wool, zeolite, expanded clay aggregate, volcanic tuff, and sepiolite used in soilless agriculture. Water saturation, pH, electrical conductivity, calcium carbonate equivalent, available potassium, available phosphorus, and organic matter analyses were implemented for inorganic materials. The elemental contents of the components for studied inorganic materials were obtained using inductively coupled plasma‐optical emission spectrometry (ICP‐OES). Furthermore, natural and artificial radionuclides of studied inorganic materials were calculated using gamma‐ray spectrometry. The pumice has the highest 226Ra activity concentration, and the zeolite has the highest 232Th and 40K activity concentrations. The 137Cs activity concentration is the maximum for perlite and it is the minimum for expanded clay aggregate. The zeolite has the highest radiological hazard parameters whereas those are the smallest for the rock wool. The Fe, Na, B, Ca, K, Si, P, S, and Mn are the primary components of the inorganic materials used in soilless agriculture. Consequently, this study is contributed to environmental and health problems of livings. In the future, transferred radionuclides from plant to livings assessment can be carried out for these inorganic materials used in soilless agriculture.