elemental poisoning

2. ELEMENTS
• Elements occur naturally in the environmental but due to industrial
revolution via technological advancement, Elements concentrations in
the environment are becoming increasingly high.
• Elements occurrence in the environment has become an
environmental concern because the globe is said to be experiencing a
silent epidemic of environment poisoning from the ever increasing
amounts of elements released into the biosphere.

3. ELEMENTAL POISONING
• Elemental toxicity or elemental poisoning is the toxic effect of
certain elements in certain forms and doses on life. Some elements
are toxic when they form poisonous soluble compounds.
• Elemental poisoning causes elemental pollution.
• Certain elements have no biological role, i.e. are not essential
minerals, or are toxic when in a certain form.
• Like :- lead, mercury, chromium, cobalt etc.

4. POLLUTION
• WHAT IS POLLUTION?
The presence in or introduction into the
environment of a substance which has harmful
or poisonous effects.
Pollution can take the form of chemical
substances or energy, such as noise, heat or
light. Pollutants, the components of pollution,
can be either foreign substances/energies or
naturally occurring contaminants.

5. WATER POLLUTION
• Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies
(e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers and groundwater).
• This form of environmental degradation occurs when
pollutants are directly or indirectly discharged into
water bodies without adequate treatment to remove
harmful compounds.
• Water pollution affects the entire biosphere – plants
and organisms living in these bodies of water. In
almost all cases the effect is damaging not only to
individual species and population, but also to the
natural biological communities.

6. HEAVY METALS
• Heavy metals are those metal of relatively high density, or high
relative atomic weight.
• Heavy metal can include elements lighter than carbon and can exclude
some of the heaviest metals.

7. COMMON HEAVY METALS CAUSING
AQUEOUS POLLUTION
• Cadmium
• Lead
• Mercury
• Aluminum
• Antimony
• Arsenic
• Zinc and Copper
• Nickel
• Tin
• Uranium

8. Sources of heavy metals pollution
• Primary sources of heavy metals are point sources:
- Mines
- Foundries
- Smelters
- Coal-burning power plants
- Diffuse sources (combustion by-products
and vehicle emissions)
• Waste-derived fuels are especially prone to contain heavy
metals, so heavy metals are a concern in consideration of waste
as fuel.
• Electronic waste is also a significant source of heavy metal
contaminants

9. Lead Aqueous Pollution
• Lead is a highly toxic trace element with no recognized biological
requirement in organisms. Moreover, there may be no concentration
threshold for Pb in humans or other mammals. The concentration of
the metal has been substantially elevated by industrial release.
• The relative environmental Pb contamination is unparalleled among
the elements and most of it dispersed as an environmental pollutant on
a global scale.
• Pb is therefore very ubiquitous (found in several places), being found
in the atmosphere, soil, water, plant, foods and sediments.

10. Lead Aqueous Pollution
• Lead in water: Lead has the tendency to form compounds of low
solubility with major anions found in natural water.
• Some of them are found in an undissolved form (colloidal particles or
larger undissolved particles of PbCO3, PbO and Pb(OH)2.
• The ration of Pb in suspended solids to Pb in dissolve form has been
found to increase from 4:1 to 27:1 in urban streams, implying
increased pollution.
• Consumption of such untreated water may lead to Lead Poisoning.

11. Lead Aqueous Pollution
• Health Effects
Infants and children: Delays in physical or mental development;
children could show slight deficits in attention span and learning
abilities.
Adults: Kidney problems; high blood pressure
• Sources of contamination
Corrosion of household plumbing systems, erosion of natural deposits.
Industrial sources such as lead mining, smelting and coal combustion,
the use of lead-based paint and lead containing pipes in water supply
systems.

12. Arsenic Aqueous Pollution
• Arsenic contamination of groundwater is often due to naturally
occurring high concentrations of arsenic in deeper levels of
ground water
• Its sources are geochemical processes, mining activities
• Industrial and manufacturing processes.
• through the dissolution of minerals and ores, and as a result of
erosion from local rocks.
• It can causes:
• Irritation of the stomach and intestines
• Red and white blood cells decreased production, skin changes
and lung irritation

13. Cadmium Aqueous Pollution
• Maximum contaminant level for cadmium is 0.005 mg/L or 5 ppb.
• Cadmium applications- including electroplating and the manufacture
of batteries.
• Contaminated foodstuffs can result in emphysema, renal failure,
cardiovascular disease, and perhaps cancer.

14. Mercury Aqueous Pollution
• largest emitters
cement plants
power plants
gold mining, and
industrial boilers in
• In areas of mercury contamination, larger and older fish tend to
have higher levels of mercury.
• Minamata disease is a neurological syndrome caused by
severe mercury poisoning by polluted water. Symptoms
include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle
weakness, narrowing of the field of vision, and damage
to hearing and speech.

15. Nickel Aqueous Pollution
Metallic nickel and some other nickel compounds are teratogenic and
carcinogenic to mammals. Nickel concentrations in plants are usually 1
μg/g, and concentrations above 50 μg/g are toxic.
Effects of nickel:
• Increased red blood cells (cancer)
• Increased protein in the urine
• Chronic bronchitis
• Reduced lung function
• Stomach aches
• Cancer of the lungs

16. Uranium Aqueous Pollution
• Uranium is a naturally and commonly occurring radioactive element
and found in water coming from power plants causing uranium
contained water pollution
• Uranium poisoning causes birth abnormalities including physical
deformities, neurological and mental disorders.

17. Zinc Aqueous Pollution
• Zinc in water (from wastewater of industrial plants) increases the
acidity of waters. Some fish can accumulate Zn in their bodies, when
found in zinc contaminated waterways. Zinc in fish can bio-magnify
and eater in food chain.
• Insoluble zinc in soils can contaminate groundwater. Large
concentrations of zinc in soils of farmland pose health threat to
animals and plants also (apart from groundwater contamination).
• Zn can lead to acute gastrointestinal and respiratory damages and
acute heart, brain and kidney damages, when they are in polluted
aqueous form.

18. Chromium Aqueous Pollution
• Chromium is not known to accumulate in the bodies of fish, but high
concentrations of chromium, due to the disposal of metal products in
surface waters, can damage the gills of fish that swim near the point
of disposal.
• In animals chromium can cause respiratory problems, a lower ability
to fight disease, birth defects, infertility and tumour formation.
• Chromium(VI) is mainly toxic to organisms

19. METHODS TO PURIFY WATER
FROM ELEMENTAL POLLUTION
• COMMONLY USED METHODS
- Chemical precipitation
- Biosorption
- Ion exchange
- Reverse osmosis
- Solvent extraction

20. • Reverse Osmosis:
It is a process in which heavy metals are separated by a semi-
permeable membrane at a pressure greater than osmotic pressure
caused by the dissolved solids in wastewater.

21. • Ions exchange:
In this process, metal ions from dilute solutions are exchanged with ions
held by electrostatic forces on the exchange resin.
Different type of ion exchange resins are used for every metal like Lead
: carboxylic resin
• Chemical Precipitation:
Precipitation of metals is achieved by the addition of coagulants such
as alum, lime, iron salts and other organic polymers. The large amount
of sludge containing toxic compounds produced during the process is
the main disadvantage.

22. • Biosorption
The biosorption process involves a solid phase (biological material) and
a liquid phase (solvent, normally water) containing a dissolved species
to be absorbed.
The degree of sorbent affinity for the sorbate determines its distribution
between the solid and liquid phases.
Many algae have immense capability to absorb metals, and there is
considerable potential for using them to treat wastewaters

23. • Zeolites
1. Zeolites are nature's powerful detoxifiers that are so strong they even
binds all those heavy metals from the food and water we ingest.
2. Natural zeolites can safely remove heavy metals such as mercury,
cadmium, lead, arsenic, aluminum, and tin, while also removing
radioactive metals like cesium and Strontium-90.
3. Zeolites are microporous, alum inosilicate, minerals
commonly used as commercial adsorbents.

24. METAL DETECTION TECHNIQUES
The analytical methods commonly used in estimation of heavy metals
in water and waste waters are:
• Inductively coupled plasma analyser (ICP)
• Atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS)
• Colorimetric methods
• Polarographic estimation
• Ion Selective Electrodes (ISE)

25. RESULT
• Surface/ground water contamination through toxic metals is a problem
since long. Many countries in the world have experienced menace of
metal pollution in water and large number of people have been
affected. The governments of the countries are trying to solve it and it
maybe cured someday.