Journal of Health and Safety at Work

Introduction: Chromium (VI) is a known human carcinogenic agent which is used in numerous industrial processes such as electroplating, welding, textile, cement and steel fabrication. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of natural zeolite on the fixed bed adsorption of Cr (VI) from air stream.
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Material and Method: In this experimental study, chromium mists were generated by a nebulizer (3A model, Italy). Performance of natural zeolite in the Cr (VI) adsorption and its influencing factors such as air flow rate (1 and 3 L/min), the initial Cr concentration (0.05, 0.15, 1 and 10 mg/m³) and the bed depth (2.5, 5 and 10 cm) were investigated.
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Result: Zeolite adsorption capacity elevated by the increasing of bed depth but decreased with increasing of flow rate and inlet concentration. In order to facilitate the prediction of natural zeolite column performance Yoon-Nelson and Thomas models were used. The results showed that these models have a good agreement with our experimental data.
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Conclusion: Due to the extensive use of chromium in various industries and regulatory requirements related to workplace health and safety, Cr emission control in the occupational environment is essential. The adsorption process is one of the controlling measures of chromium emissions. The results indicated that natural zeolite has a high efficiency in Cr (VI) adsorption.

Introduction: Harmful effects of environmental pollutants and their environmental impacts necessitate revention of the pollution emission from various industries. Leather industry is one of the most polluting industries, with chromium compounds as an important contamination, widely used in the tanning process. The present study aimed to determine the causes of high chromium concentration from leather production process in Charmshahr industrial complex in Varamin city.
 

Methods and material: Continuous sampling was done from the wastewater in each plant for six months and the contaminations resulted from different stages of leather products were investigated. In this regard, for determining the chemical quality and pollution load of wastewater from tannery process, following parameters were examined: PH, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Chromium (III), and Chromium (VI). Analysis of data was conducted by SPSS and Excel softwares. The t-test was used for comparison with standards at significance level of P<0.05.
 

Results: The results indicated the existence of toxic pollutants such as Cr⁺³ and Cr⁺⁶ in leather wastewater, the relatively high level of organic loads with low biodegradability, high levels of COD, BOD, TDS and finally the complexity of the treatment of wastewater.

Introduction: Hexavalent chromium (VI) is a very strong oxidizing agent that, despite its many uses in various industries, duration of the exposure can lead to lung cancer, deep wounds (in the hands, arm, tongue and palate), nasal septum perforation, burning and inflammation in the nose, lung and upper respiratory tract, asthma, contact dermatitis, damage to the kidneys and liver, and skin allergy. This study aimed to determine the activated carbon efficiency in chromium adsorption (VI) from air flow and its effective parameters. 

Material and Method: In this experimental study, chromium mists were generated by a nebulizer (3A model, Italy). Performance of activated carbon in the Cr (VI) adsorption and its influencing factors such as air flow rate (1 and 3L/min), the initial Cr concentration (0.05, 0.15, 1 and 10 mg/m3) and bed depth (2.5, 5 and 10 cm) were investigated. Yoon-Nelson and Thomas models were used to predict performance of adsorbent column and correlation test was used to determine accordance between the model and actual data.

Result: Activated carbon adsorption capacity increased with increasing of bed depth but decreased with increasing of flow rate and inlet concentration. The results showed that the Yoon-Nelson and Thomas models with a correlation coefficient above 0.9953 matched with the experimental data.

Conclusion: The results indicated that activated carbon has a high efficiency in Cr (VI) adsorption, so that its efficiency at flow rate of 3 L/m, depth of 5 cm and concentration of 20 TLV and TLV was 85.42 and 71.83 percent respectively.