Open AccessChemical Toxicity Risk Assessment of Uranium in the Fly Ash from Thermal Power Plant (GNDTPP) of Bathinda City, India
Author(s) -
Muhanad Alrakabi,
Sanjeev Kumar,
Deepak Mehta
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
iop conference series. materials science and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1757-899X
pISSN - 1757-8981
DOI - 10.1088/1757-899x/928/7/072080
Subject(s) - fly ash , thermal power station , slurry , uranium , environmental science , coal , chemical toxicity , waste management , environmental chemistry , toxicology , pulp and paper industry , chemistry , environmental engineering , metallurgy , materials science , biology , engineering , water pollutants
Uranium can be released into the environment from various activities such as the use of phosphate fertilizers, combustion of coal in thermal power plants, mining, and depleted uranium used in the wars. One of the talked about sources for such water contamination in Bathinda city is the fly ash from the coal-fired thermal power plants. To assess the role of fly ash and Chemical toxicity risk associated with uranium from the fly ash to the water, the coal, dry fly ash, ash slurry and water samples collected from the surrounding of Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Power Plant (GNDTPP) in the Bathinda city of Punjab state, India. The samples were analyzed using the X-ray fluorescence set up. In the present work, we found that uranium concentrations in the dry fly ash and coal samples were higher than permissible limit i.e. < 2 ppm but the concentrations in the ash slurry and water samples was below the safe limit of 30 μg l −1 as recommended by World Health Organization (WHO, 2011). The 38 Sr concentrations are also found to be 0.103-1.210 ppm and with average value 0.576 ppm in the various types of water in surrounding of the thermal power plant. The concentrations of 42 Mo are found to be 0.002-0.050 ppm and the average value 0.022 ppm below the safe limit of 0.07 mg/l as recommended by World Health Organization (WHO, 2011) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS, 2012). Chemical toxicity risk calculated in the form of lifetime average daily dose (LAAD) and hazard quotient. The lifetime average daily dose (LAAD) values of ash slurry and water samples were found to be lower than WHO (2011) recommended level of 1 μg kg −1 d −1 , and the values of hazard quotient of the study samples were found to be lower than unity expect dry fly ash and coal samples were higher than permissible limit. The present study is concluded that uranium contamination in water of Bathinda city is not due to the Thermal Power Plant, and there is indicating no chemical toxicity risk due to uranium from the fly ash to the water.