Environmental Evaluation of Heavy Metals Contamination in Soils around the Cement Factory in Behbahan City

Atmospheric emissions from industrial establishments are one of the major sources of environmental pollution. One type of industry that causes particle pollution is the cement industry that Heavy metals are among the most relevant substances emitted during the process of cement manufacture. The aim of the study is to determine the major source and extent of metal pollution in soils vicinity of the cement factory in Behbahan city. Therefore, sixty one soil samples were collected from around the cement factories in Bebahan area. The samples were obtained at the depth 5-10 cm and were analyzed for Al, Pb, Cd and Ni by Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP). In the samples of the studied soil, the average of the recorded concentration of elements for Al, Pb, Cd and Ni are 83.26, 64.69, 75.29 and 64 (ppm), respectively. The order of the average frequency of the heavy metals concentration is of Al>Cd>Pb>Ni. The results further revealed that the metal distribution were in a fluctuating manner considering various distances and directions from the cement facility, as it was observed that the mean metal concentrations of the soil decrease as distance from the cement facility increased for most metals. In this study, three contamination indexes have been used to express the distribution of soil pollution in the area. The result of the present study showed that all the metals were deficiency to minimal enriched in all distances, since the EF values of the metals are smaller than 1.5. Geoaccumulation index of the soil sampling can explain that the Cd element is lying with extremely contaminated area and the Pb element is lying with low contaminated area. The PLI was calculated for the overall distances and showed uncontaminated area than heavy metals in background value.