DETERMINATION OF HEAVY METALS IN SOILS USING XRF TECHNIQUE

Abstract

“Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati, Faculty of Sciences, Chemistry Department, 111 Domneasca St, 800201 Galati, Romania Received September 14, 2009 In this work X-ray fluorescence (XRF) technique was used to evaluate the soil pollution with heavy metals (As, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, V and Zn) in the vicinity of Iron and Steel Works at Galati, Romania, which is one of the most important metallurgical complexes in the South-East of Europe. The investigated soil samples were collected in open places at different depths, at different distances from the metallurgical plant. XRF analyses were carried out at the Laboratory of European Excellence Centre for the Environment, Faculty of Sciences, Dunarea de Jos University of Galati, using a handheld Thermo Scientific XLTj-793 NITON energy-dispersive XRF analyzer. The experimental results indicate that the concentrations of heavy elements decrease with the distance from the metallurgical works and they are greater than the levels detected in a control soil collected from a zone situated far from traffic and industrial activity. For the majority of metals, pronounced maximum concentrations for all depths were detected in the sites located in influence zones of industrial objective with ferrous processing activities. Anthropogenic releases give rise to higher concentrations of the metals relative to the normal background values and in some locations their levels exceed the alert level admitted by the Romanian guideline. Key words: X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) technique, heavy metals, soil pollution, industrial plant. 1. INTRODUCTION