Assessment of the impact of petroleum and petrochemical industries to the surrounding areas in Malaysia using mosses as bioindicator supported by multivariate analysis |
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Authors: | Mohd Zahari Bin Abdullah Ahmad Bin Saat Zaini Bin Hamzah |
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Institution: | (1) Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 26400 Pahang, Malaysia;(2) Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Malaysia |
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Abstract: | Biomonitoring of multi-element atmospheric deposition using terrestrial moss is a well-established technique in Europe. Although
the technique is widely known, there were very limited records of using this technique to study atmospheric air pollution
in Malaysia. In this present study, the deposition of 11 trace metals surrounding the main petroleum refinery plant in Kerteh
Terengganu (eastern part of peninsular Malaysia) has been evaluated using two local moss species, namely Hypnum plumaeforme and Taxithelium instratum as bioindicators. The study was also done by means of observing whether these metals are attributed to work related to oil
exploration in this area. The moss samples have been collected at 30 sampling stations in the vicinity of the petrochemical
industrial area covering up to 15 km to the south, north, and west in radius. The contents of heavy metal in moss samples
were analyzed by energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence technique. Distribution of heavy metal content in all mosses is portrayed
using Surfer software. Areas of the highest level of contaminations are highlighted. The results obtained using the principal
components analysis revealed that the elements can be grouped into three different components that indirectly reflected three
different sources namely anthropogenic factor, vegetation factor, and natural sources (soil dust or substrate) factor. Heavy
metals deposited mostly in the distance after 9 km onward to the western part (the average direction of wind blow). V, Cr,
Cu, and Hg are believed to have originated from local petrochemical-based industries operated around petroleum industrial
area. |
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