Analysis and Assessment of the Soil Environment Around a Plateau Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Plant

Abstract

ABSTRACTTo understand the source, distribution and degree of pollution of heavy metals in the soil around a plateau municipal solid waste incineration plant, a municipal solid waste incineration plant in Lhasa was taken as the research object in this study. The soil surrounding the facility was sampled, and the contents of heavy metals, including Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Ni, Cd, As, and Hg, in the soil were analyzed. Then, heavy metal pollution and risk assessments were conducted using the geoaccumulation index method, Nemerow index method, and potential ecological risk index method. Additionally, correlation and principal component analysis were used to determine the correlation between heavy metals in the soil and their sources of pollution. The results showed that based on the Nemerow comprehensive pollution index, the soil surrounding the incineration plant generally had a low level of pollution. Through the analysis of individual potential ecological risk indices, it was found that only the heavy metal Cd presented moderate potential risks, while the other seven heavy metals had mild potential risks. The average value of the total potential risk coefficient was 107.31, which was less than 150, indicating that there was a slight potential risk associated with the soil around the incineration plant. There was significant correlation between six heavy metals, namely, Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Ni, and Cd, in the soil around the incineration plant. Their pollution sources were similar, and their levels tended to be affected by the incineration plant. However, there was no significant correlation between the heavy metals As and Hg and the other six heavy metals. These two heavy metals had independent sources of pollution but were also influenced by human activities.KEYWORDS: Heavy metalSpatial distribution characteristicsGeoaccumulation indexPotential ecological risk indexPrincipal component analysis Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Author contributionsZeng Dan and Guanyi Chen provided the research ideas and experimental equipment. Wenwu Zhou, Dean Meng, Jiachen Guo, Peng Zhou completed the experimental operation and the arrangement and processing of experimental data.Consent to participateAll authors were participated in this work.Consent to publishAll authors agree to publish.Data availability statementAll relevant data are within the manuscript and available from the corresponding author upon request.Ethical approvalThis paper mainly studies the heavy metals in landfill soil, not involving human and animal research.Supplementary materialSupplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15320383.2023.2276178Additional informationFundingThe work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Project [52160026]; High-level Talent Training Program of Tibet University [2020-GSP-B010]; Academic development support project for young doctors of Tibet University [zdbs202211]; Key R & D projects of Tibet Autonomous Region [XZ202101ZY0010G; XZ202301ZY0029G; XZ202202ZY0004N]; National Key Research &Development Program of China [2019YFC1904101].