Articles - Chemical Science & Engineering Research

Abstract

Five (5) Pollution index was used to assess the eco-contamination of heavy metals in an area associated with auto-mechanic activities in order to determine the impact of improper automobile waste oil discharge in the research area. The total digestion and fractionation of the analyzed heavy metals was performed using standard methods, while quantification of heavy metals was carried out using atomic absorption spectroscopy. Risk assessment coded reveal that Fe and Cd have a low probability of been release to the environment due their low concentrations in the exchangeable and carbonate fractions. The ecological risk index revealed that with the exception of Cd and Cu, the analyzed heavy metals does not pose risk to the environment, while the geoaccumulation index revealed that only Cu fell in a class above 4, thereby suggesting Cu is strongly geo-accumulated in the study area. The enrichment factor revealed that none of the analyzed heavy metals in high enriched in the study area, while the contaminator factor suggested that with the exception of Cd, Cu and Pb, the heavy metals have a low degree of contamination. Finally, the total concentration of the analyzed heavy metals in the soil samples collected from auto-mechanic site was higher than those obtained from the control site. This indicated that anthropogenic conditions such as auto-mechanic activities are responsible for these results.