The source apportionment, pollution characteristic and mobility of Sb in roadside soils affected by traffic and industrial activities

Geng Yan; Lingchen Mao; Bingyang Jiang; Xinran Chen; Ya Gao; Chunzhao Chen; Feipeng Li; Ling Chen

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.121352

The source apportionment, pollution characteristic and mobility of Sb in roadside soils affected by traffic and industrial activities

J Hazard Mater. 2020 Feb 15:384:121352. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.121352. Epub 2019 Sep 30.

Authors

Geng Yan¹, Lingchen Mao², Bingyang Jiang¹, Xinran Chen¹, Ya Gao¹, Chunzhao Chen¹, Feipeng Li³, Ling Chen⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory on Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, PR China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai, 200092, PR China.
² School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, PR China. Electronic address: mao.lingchen@usst.edu.cn.
³ School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, PR China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory on Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, PR China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai, 200092, PR China. Electronic address: chenling@tongji.edu.cn.

PMID: 31629593
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.121352

Abstract

Antimony (Sb), as an emerging pollutant, has aroused people's concerns for its wide usage in industrial production. In this study, we identify and quantify the traffic-derived Sb and investigate its mobility in roadside soils affected by traffic and industrial activities. 73 surface roadside soils and 5 transects in three areas nearby different industries (smelting, power and refining, and waste incineration) were collected and analyzed. Results showed that the Sb concentration ranged between 0.54 and 9.32 mg/kg, and the mean EF_s value was 4.63, which indicated moderate to significant Sb enrichment. Significantly high concentrations of Sb occurred at locations with heavy traffic and frequent braking process, with an average concentration of 4.13 mg/kg, compared to the control sites (2.01 mg/kg). Moreover, Sb diffused exponentially with increasing distance from road edges. These results suggested that traffic activities were the main source of Sb in roadside soils. According to the quantitative calculation, the average contributions from traffic, industrial activities and soil parent material to Sb accumulation in roadside soils were 50.73%, 21.38% and 27.88%, respectively. Even though Sb was slightly mobile, roadside soils was a persistent source of potentially mobile Sb which may release into water and cause long-term environmental risk.

Keywords: Antimony; Industrial activities; Roadside soils; Sequential extraction; Traffic.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't