Iranian Journal of

---

Background and Objectives: In the production of some high-consumed food products like cake, biscuit, chocolate and spaghetti water is used in the preparing of primary material and in the kneading processes. At the present study microbiological and chemical quality of consumed water in food industries of East Azerbaijan Province were studied.
Materials and Methods: Eleven factories with different products were selected. Water samples were collected and analyzed regarding the microbiological contamination and chemical parameters, and heavy metals. In addition, condition of water quality in selected industry was surveyed during the summer.
Results: According to the results, monitoring of water quality in the studied industries is not suitable. The chemical characteristics of consumed water in those industries had major differences. Ni, Cr, Zn, Fe and Mn were present in all analyzed water but in lower concentration than national Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL). Pb was measured in higher concentration than MCL in spaghetti factory no. 2 and close to MCL in wiener and frankfurter and sugar industries. Cd was close to MCL in spaghetti factory no. 2 and wiener and frankfurter industries.
Conclusion: It was concluded that for the safety and health of food products the food industries should use the public water supply system as water source at least in food processing units or in the units of preparing of primary materials. Also for the preventing of chemical pollution of food products it is necessary, pay more attention to the subject of water quality control according to the special water standard of food industries, and using less volume of water in some food industry isn.t acceptable reason for neglecting of water quality monitoring and assessing. In addition it is required to analyze heavy metals in the final products of those industries.

---

MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background and Objectives: Heavy metals including antimony and cobalt as two contaminant factors leach from polyethylene terephthalate packages into water under some conditions. Therefore, their detection was concerned at different storage conditions.
Materials and Methods: Five time-temperature treatments were carried out for 5 water samples. Storage conditions were defined as following: at outdoor and sunlight ambient temperature, room temperature, and at 40˚C at different intervals for 8 weeks, at 65˚C for 6 weeks and 80˚C for 7 days. Detection was performed by ICP-AES method and the data analysis was processed by SPSS software.
Results: Antimony concentration increased by storage time at all temperatures and for all samples, however enhancing proportion was different in samples. At outdoor, 40˚C and room temperature, concentration increase was below the MCL by the end of storage period. But at 65˚C and 85˚C, antimony concentration exceeded MCL by study time and the difference between samples 4 and 5, for example, was significant (p≤0.05). Cobalt concentration at the beginning and during the study was also too less and lower than the detection limit.
Conclusion: By increasing temperature and time, leaching of antimony into water increases. Moreover, sunlight has effect but not noticeable at the temperature of present study. In this study, blue or clear packaging had no significant effect on antimony leakage (P>0.05).

---

Background and Objectives:Chlorination is the most common method of water disinfection. Chlorine reaction with natural organic compounds nor removed completely during treatment process would result in forming disinfection byproducts. Followed by trihalomethanes, Haloaceticacides are the second main byproducts of chlorination in water. The research works conducted in Iran have assessed trihalomethanes. Hence, this is the first time we are reporting haloacetic acids in Iran. Materials and Methodology: We collected samples from surface water resources and treated water in Tehran for six consecutive months (first half, 2010). We measured temperature, pH, UV adsorption at 254 nm and TOC in each surface water sample and analyzed pH, residual chlorine, and haloacetic acids in the treated water samples. Results: We found that TOC in surface water resources is 3.6-4.42 and 1.78-2.71 mg/l in spring and summer respectively. Moreover, haloacetic acids concentration was found to be 41.7-55.56 and 34.83-43.73 μg/l in spring and summer respectively. Conclusion: Our results revealed that concentration of NOM, TOC, and HAAs was more in spring than summer. In addition, concentration of HAAs was depended up on NOM and TOC. Considering maximum permeable concentration of HAAs (60 μg/l) by EPA, it can be claimed that concentration of HAAs was less than the maximum permissible level in all of the samples. However, the immanency of the monitored values to the standard values can be a warning for concerned authorities in water industry.

---

Background and objectives: Dichloromethane (DCM) is one of the hazardous contaminants of the environment, especially ambient air that threatens human health at both acute and chronic exposures. In this study, the performance of a pilot-scale hybrid bubble column/biofilter (HBCB) bioreactor was studied for the removal of DCM from waste gas streams at steady state. Materials and methods: The experiments were conducted in four stages with relatively constant concentrations of DCM (approximately 240 ppm) and variable empty bed residence time (EBRT) of 50, 100, 150 and 200 s. In addition to determining DCM removal rate and efficiency, quality parameters of mixed liquor of the bubble column bioreactor were studied and kinetic of biofiltration was analyzed. Results: The average DCM removal efficiency of the HBCB bioreactor at EBRT of 200 and 150 s were 79 and 71% respectively. However, further reduction of EBRT resulted in significantly decreased DCM removal efficiency, so that at EBRT of 50 s, the DCM removal efficiency decreased to 32%. In addition, the EBRT reduction from 200 s to 50 s through increasing DCM loading rate resulted in increasing DCM removal rate from 12.1 to 19.6 g/m³.h. The results of kinetic analysis showed that the kinetic data of biofiltration were in the best fitness with the first order rate equation (R²>0.99 and &epsilon%<2.2) and the DCM removal rate constant was determined 0.0114 s^-1. The mixed liquor characterization indicated that the daily adjustment of pH and EC was sufficient to prevent any limitation in the performance of the HBCB bioreactor. Conclusion: This study indicated that the DCM removal rate and efficiency of the HBCB bioreactor were relatively high and the HBCB bioreactor had reliable performance during the variable operational conditions.

---

Background and Objective: During the past few decades, air pollution has been the focus of international attention due to an increase in deaths from air pollution. In this study, Volatile Organic Hydrocarbons (VOCs) and Total Hydrocarbons (THCs) in ambient air of a Petrochemical Complex, Iran, was measured. Also, the relationship between these pollutants and some of their urinary metabolites was evaluated in the petrochemical complex workers.

Materials and Methods: These pollutants were measured in two stages, in spring (40 samples) and summer (40 samples), in ambient air of the different units of the complex. Urinary metabolites were measured in accordance with the NIOSH standard method using a GC-FID and TD/GC-MS.

Results: Total average of THCs in the spring and summer was 14.06 and 15.85 ppm, respectively; this amount was 14.09 and 16 ppm for VOCs. In summer, the highest values of VOCs (48.19 ppm) and THCs (47.63 ppm) were measured in Recovery unit. Total average of the urinary metabolites including Phenol, Phenylglyoxylic acid (PGA) and Mandelic Acid (MA) was 16.67, 34.8, and 67.24 mg/g creatinine respectively; in spring, it was 15.34, 57.34, 30.5 mg/g creatinine respectively

Conclusion: Background variables such as age, weight, and smoking habit had different impacts on the level of metabolites. The values of measured pollutants were lower than the guideline values proposed by the American Association of Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). In addition, the values of measured metabolites in urine were less than the biological exposure index (BEI) provided by ACGIH.