Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec 16;19(24):16930.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph192416930.

Spatial Distribution Profiles and Human-Health Risks of Heavy Metals in Surrounding Area Surface Soils of a Petrochemical Complex

Miao Yi  1   2   3 , Shiyi Zhang  3 , Min Li  3 , Jun Xiang  1   2   3 , Bin Tang  3 , Xiao Yan  3 , Jing Zheng  3 , Guiying Li  1   2 , Taicheng An  1   2
Affiliations

Spatial Distribution Profiles and Human-Health Risks of Heavy Metals in Surrounding Area Surface Soils of a Petrochemical Complex

Miao Yi et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Despite the growing concern raised by organic pollutants from the petrochemical industry to the surrounding soils, the heavy metal (HM) pollution in these soils remains understudied. This study investigated the levels, potential sources, and human-health risks of 12 HMs in soils inside and in surrounding areas of a petrochemical complex. Generally, the levels of 12 HMs in all soil samples were lower than the national standard of China, except for the Cd in one surrounding soil sample. Approximately 40.9% and 98.1% of soils around and inside the petrochemical complex, respectively, were at slightly contaminated levels. The HM pollution in 94.4% of soils inside and 32% of soils in surrounding areas were mainly affected by petrochemical production. Human-health risk showed that although As posed an acceptable cancer risk for adults both in and around the complex, high cancer risk for surrounding children from As was observed. Moreover, around the complex, Cr, Cd, and Pb posed acceptable cancer risks for children, while Cd posed an acceptable cancer risk for adults. The spatial distribution of the health risks decreased with increasing distance from the complex. Overall, our results demonstrate that it is essential to minimize human exposure to HMs originating from the petrochemical industry, especially As, Cr, Cd, and Pb.

Keywords: health risk; heavy metals; petrochemical complex; soil pollution; spatial distribution.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Soil sampling sites of the study area.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The Geological accumulation indices (a) and the Pollution indices (b) of HMs inside and around the petrochemical complex.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Principal component analysis of the HMs inside and around the petrochemical complex.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The spatial distribution of HI and TCR for adults.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Xiao Q., Zong Y.T., Lu S.G. Assessment of heavy metal pollution and human health risk in urban soils of steel industrial city (Anshan), Liaoning, Northeast China. Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf. 2015;120:377–385. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2015.06.019. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hu B.F., Shao S., Ni H., Fu Z.Y., Hu L.S., Zhou Y., Min X.X., She S.F., Chen S.C., Huang M.X., et al. Current status, spatial features, health risks, and potential driving factors of soil heavy metal pollution in China at province level. Environ. Pollut. 2020;266:114961. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114961. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zhou Y., Jiang D., Ding D., Wu Y., Wei J., Kong L., Long T., Fan T., Deng S. Ecological-health risks assessment and source apportionment of heavy metals in agricultural soils around a super-sized lead-zinc smelter with a long production history, in China. Environ. Pollut. 2022;307:119487. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119487. - DOI - PubMed
    1. MEP . Bulletin of National Soil Pollution Survey. MEP: Ministry of Environmental Protection of China; Beijing, China: 2014. (In Chinese)
    1. Yang Q.Q., Li Z.Y., Lu X.N., Duan Q.N., Huang L., Bi J. A review of soil heavy metal pollution from industrial and agricultural regions in China: Pollution and risk assessment. Sci. Total Environ. 2018;642:690–700. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.06.068. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types