Home – Home – Jornals – Geography and Natural Resources 2020 number 2

The level of contamination of the surface layer of the atmospheric air in the places of disposal and long-term storage of metallurgical slags has been investigated. It is found that accumulated waste is the source of permanent input of pollutants, heavy metals in particular, into the environment. A calculation of the emission intensity during processing and static storage of ferroal loy slag made by PJSC Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant (Nikopol, Ukraine) thus enabling identification of the magnitude of local dust pollution of the environment and determination of the potential hazard of contamination with heavy metals forming part of dump slag. The intensity of dust discharge during processing (pouring, handling and moving) of manganese-containing waste slag, obtained by calculations, is 0,122 g/s, and the rate of dust discharge during static storage of material on the slag dump is 280 g/s. Among the heavy metals making up the slag, manganese has the highest emission intensity, followed by nickel and cobalt. The lowest value of the emission was obtained for zinc. Data on the intensity of heavy metals discharge when slag is moved correlate with calculations for static slag storage. The content of manganese at the boundary of the sanitary protection zone of the enterprise during static storage of slags on a dump occupying an area of 13,8 hectares is 3 times higher than the normative values, which poses a threat to human health. It is found that the surface layer of the atmosphere receives 0,92 g of manganese from only one dump every second. The data obtained indicate a significant contribution of industrial dumps to the level of atmospheric air contamination in the urban environment.