Iranian Journal of

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Background and Objectives: Heavy Metals in Water resources is one of the most important environmental problems of countries. Up to now various methods of removing of these metals is considered, which is including using of low prices materials. In this study the potential of banana shells was assessed for adsorption of heavy metal ions such as Pb and Cd from aqueous solution.
Materials and Methods: Banana shells were pretreated separately with 0.4 mol/L NaOH, 0.4 mol/L HNO and distilled water and their adsorption ability were compared. Batch adsorption experiments were carried out as a function of the initial ion concentration, pH and adsorbent dosage. Adsorption isotherms of metal ions on adsorbents were determined and correlated with common isotherm equations such as Lungmuir, Freundlich and BET models.
Results: The maximum adsorption capacities were achieved by alkali modified banana shells (36 mg/g) for Pb and by acidic modified banana shells (16 mg/g) for Cd. Experimental results showed that the best pH for adsorption was 6 and the adsorption values decreased with lowering pH. Isotherm models indicated best fit for Freundlich model for modified banana shells.
Conclusion: In comparing the parameters of models, it was observed that the capacity of banana shells for adsorption of lead is higher  than for adsorption of cadmium, but the adsorption of  cadmium is stronger than the adsorption of lead.

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Backgrounds and Objectives : Heavy metals in dust can enter to the human body through ingestion andinhalation. They can pollute the water and soil resources via atmospheric precipitation and accumulate in the plants tissue and enter human body by water and food. The aim of this study was measurement of the heavy metals in wet and dry atmospheric precipitation and effects of pollution sources at the ground surface on the concentration of heavy metals in the atmospheric precipitations.
Materials and Methods: In this study the zanjan city was divided into 5 zones and wet and dry precipitations were collected in autumn, winter and spring (2008- 2009) from zones. The concentrations of Pb, Cd, Cr and Zn the collected precipitations were determined by Atomic Absorption spectroscopy method.
Results: The averages of concentrations of Pb, Cd, Cr and Zn were 0.082, 0.286, 0.018, and 0.009 (mg/m 2.d)respectively. The correlation coefficients between Pb-Zn was 0.8 (P<0.01) and for Cr-Cd, Cd-Pb, and Cr-Pb were 0.89, 0.58 and 0.61 respectively.
Conclusion: The results showed that the industrial sources of heavy metals play the main role in concentration of heavy metals in wet and dry atmospheric precipitation in Zanjan.The correlation coefficients showed that the lead and zinc result from a common source. This source can be the lead and zinc factories locating around the city. The measurement of heavy metals in atmospheric precipitation shows the effects of anthropogenic sources in air quality. The heavy metals concentration in atmospheric precipitation can be use as air pollution index.

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Backgrounds and Objectives: The base structure of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) is made of hydrogen and carbon. Widespread use, improper disposal and accidental spills of this compounds lead to long term remaining of contaminations such as organic solvents and poly aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the soil and groundwater resources, resulting in critical environmental issues. In this study, an oil-contaminated soil was washed using Tween 80 surfactant and the application of photo-Fenton process (UV/Fe²⁺/H₂O₂) for treatment of the produced wastewater was evaluated.
Materials and Methods: Tween 80 is a yellow liquid with high viscosity and soluble in water. In order to determine of the photo-Fenton process efficiency, we studied effective variables including Fe concentration, pH, H₂O₂ concentration, and irradiation time. The UV irradiation source was a medium-pressure mercury vapor lamp (400 w) vertically immersed in the solution within 2L volume glass cylindrical reactor.
Results: The results showed that efficiency of COD removal depends on the initial Fe concentration, pH, H₂O₂ concentration and irradiation time.
Under optimum conditions, (Fe: 0.1mM, H₂O₂: 0.43 mM, pH: 3 and UV light irradiation time: 2 hours) the removal efficiency of COD was 67.3%. pH plays a crucial role in the photo-Fenton process such that the removal efficiency increased with decreasing of pH.
Conclusion: According to the results of this study, under acidic condition, this process is an efficient method for COD removal from the wastewater studied.

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Backgrounds and Objectives: Medical waste management is one of the important issues in solid waste managment in each community. This research was carried out to study the quantity, quality and the management practices of solid wastes of hospitals in Zanjan City in 2011. Materials and Methods: In the present study, the hospital wastes were categoried and weighted into four main categories. Waste management pattern was studied based on a checklist extracted from national guidelines. Then, hospitals were ranked from very poor to excellent classes. For data analysis, Excel soft ware was used. Results: Waste generation rate was on average 2.402± 0.163 Kg/bed.day in the studied hospitals. The generation rate of domestic waste, infectious waste, sharp wastes, and chemical - pharmacological waste was 1.432±0.059, 0.926±0.096, 0.029±0.0055, and 0.015±0.002 kg/day.bed respectively. The status of the waste management practices was determined as average. Conclusion: Waste generation rate in the hospitals of Zanjan was lower compared with the expected average value in other cities (e.g. 2.71 Kg/bed.day in Tehran). The percentage of medical waste in Zanjan hospitals was 34, which is higher than W.H.O. recommendations. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to reform and monitor certain solid waste management practices in order to reduce health and environmental issues.