Unveiling Distribution, Hydrogeochemical Behavior and Environmental Risk of Chromium in Tannery Wastewater

Fazila Younas; Irshad Bibi; Muhammad Afzal; Fahad Al-Misned; Nabeel Khan Niazi; Khalid Hussain; Muhammad Shahid; Qamar Shakil; Fawad Ali; Hailong Wang

doi:10.3390/w15030391

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Unveiling Distribution, Hydrogeochemical Behavior and Environmental Risk of Chromium in Tannery Wastewater

Journal article

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Unveiling Distribution, Hydrogeochemical Behavior and Environmental Risk of Chromium in Tannery Wastewater

Fazila Younas, Irshad Bibi, Muhammad Afzal, Fahad Al-Misned, Nabeel Khan Niazi, Khalid Hussain, Muhammad Shahid, Qamar Shakil, Fawad Ali and Hailong Wang

Water (Basel), Vol.15(3), 391

18/01/2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/w15030391

Appears in Recent Faculty of Science and Engineering Publications

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Abstract

hydrogeochemistry

tannery industry

risk assessment

water

health

Chromium (Cr)-contaminated tannery wastewater is a major environmental concern, especially in developing countries, such as Pakistan, due to its use for crop irrigation, resulting in food-chain contamination and health issues. In this study, we explored the distribution, speciation, hydrogeochemical behavior and environmental risks of Cr in tannery wastewater collected from various tanneries of Kasur district in Punjab, Pakistan. Tannery wastewater samples were taken during the summer (TWW-summer; n = 82) and winter (TWW-winter; n = 82) seasons. The results showed that high Cr concentration was observed in TWW-winter (mean: 49 ± 32 mg L−1) compared to TWW-summer (mean: 15 ± 21 mg L−1). In TWW-summer and TWW-winter samples, the Cr concentration exceeded the National Environmental Quality Standard (1 mg L−1), with the total Cr ranging from 2.8 to 125 mg L−1. Hexavalent Cr (Cr(VI)) and trivalent Cr (Cr(III)) concentrations spanned 2.7 to 2.9 and 12.4 to 46 mg L−1, respectively. The Piper plot showed that hydrogeochemistry of wastewater was dominated by Ca-Mg-SO4 and Ca-Mg-Cl type water, and geochemical modeling indicated that the presence of Cr-iron (Fe)-bearing mineral phases—notably, FeCr2O4, MgCr2O4 and Cr(OH)3) may control the fate of Cr in the tannery wastewater. Environmental risk assessment modeling categorized the tannery wastewater as the ‘worst quality’, which is not fit for use in crop irrigation without treatment. This study highlights that immediate monitoring, remediation and mitigation strategies are required to reduce the risk of Cr exposure from tannery wastewater in many areas of Pakistan.

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Title: Unveiling Distribution, Hydrogeochemical Behavior and Environmental Risk of Chromium in Tannery Wastewater
Creators: Fazila Younas - University of Agriculture Faisalabad
Irshad Bibi - University of Agriculture Faisalabad
Muhammad Afzal - National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Faisalabad, Pakistan
Fahad Al-Misned - King Saud University
Nabeel Khan Niazi - University of Agriculture Faisalabad
Khalid Hussain - University of Agriculture Faisalabad
Muhammad Shahid - COMSATS University Islamabad
Qamar Shakil - Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad
Fawad Ali - Griffith University
Hailong Wang - Foshan University
Publication Details: Water (Basel), Vol.15(3), 391
Publisher: MDPI
Grant note: Higher Education Commission (Project Nos. 6425/Punjab/NRPU/R&D/HEC/2016 and 6396/Punjab/NRPU/R&D/HEC/2016), Pakistan. COMSTEQ-TWAS research grant 2018 (18–268 RG/EAS/AS_C) and Researchers Supporting Project No. RSP-2021/24.
Identifiers: 991013079984202368
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Academic Unit: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

Unveiling Distribution, Hydrogeochemical Behavior and Environmental Risk of Chromium in Tannery Wastewater

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