The Impact of a New Copper Smelting Technology on the Total Atmospheric Deposition in Bor, Serbia

Abstract

The influence of a new smelting technology in the Copper Smelter Bor on the content and chemical composition (As, Cd, Ni, Pb) of the total atmospheric deposition (TAD) in the Bor town urban areas was analyzed in this paper. The results of measurements the TAD in the period 2014-2015 (old smelting technology) were compared with the results for the period 2016-2017 (new smelting technology). The analysis was carried out for three locations in the Bor town (Technical Faculty - TF, Town Park - TP, and Mining and Metallurgy Institute Bor - IN). As a result of changes in the smelting technology and better treatment of waste gases, predominantly SO2, the pH values of the TAD have changed at all sampling points from acid (5.8 pH) to base (7.8 pH). The increase in the As content as well as the reduction of Cd content in the TAD was also detected at all sampling points while the Ni and Pb contents in the TAD have been slightly changed in the observed period. At the sampling points of the TF and TP, the maximum permissible concentration of the TAD (200 mg·m-2·day-1) for the annual averaging period is exceeded, during the old smelter operation. As a result of better treatment of the smelter waste gases in 2017, only one exceeding of the maximum allowed concentration of the TAD (450 mg·m-2·day-1) in monthly samples was recorded (at the sampling point TF). Only at the TF, the maximum permissible concentration for the annual averaging period is exceeded in 2017. The presence of a very strong (r> 0.8) and strong (0.8 >r>0.6) Pearson correlation between the heavy metals determined in the TAD was observed at all sampling points during the new smelter working period, as opposed to the old smelter working period when these correlations were weaker.