No abstract

Introduction. In many countries, there is an additional group of pollutants - deicing materials (DIM) in winter. Salt-containing DIM is one of the factors for increasing the content of PM2.5 and PM10 in the air. The purpose was to determine the possibility of using desiccators to study the aerosol effect of liquid deicing material, identify the chemical composition in the air at spreading liquid DIM in various ways, and establish the calculated doses for conducting a toxicological experiment to study the DIM aerosol effect on the organism of warm-blooded animals. Materials and methods. A model experiment was conducted in airtight containers (desiccators) using a liquid DIM that includes NaCl and CaCl2. All chemical compounds were captured in air pumping from the desiccator into a bubbler tank with bidistilled water and then analyzed using ion chromatography. Results. When comparing the obtained results of main DIM components contained in the air inside desiccators with the maximum permissible concentrations, the excess of Cl- was detected both for the highest single concentration of 0.1 mg/m3 and for the average daily concentration of 0.03 mg/m3. When applying DIM at a dose exceeding ten times the recommended norms for liquid the DIM, an excess level of the maximum permissible concentration for chlorine (but not for sodium and calcium) is observed. Conclusion. The method of DIM studying in desiccators is indicative in terms of the choice of concentrations and studying mechanisms of reagent intake for subsequent DIM research conduction using laboratory animals.

Introduction. For the time present, the active substances of many ice-melting agents used in Moscow are technical sodium and calcium chlorides. By degree of impact of sodium chloride on the human body is characterized as a moderately dangerous substance that belongs to the 3rd hazard class. Residents of megacities who remain unprotected from the possible harmful effects of these substances need the compliance of the ice-melting product’s application with appropriate security measures. Our research focused on the presence of these substances and their accompanying components in the transit environment and determining their actual and extreme loads to prevent possible functional changes in the future traffic chain objects. Material and methods. Chloride (Cl-) and sodium (Na+) content in the snow mass samples taken from the sites adjacent to motorways in Moscow were determined using ion chromatography. Other associated elements in the ice-melting agents were detected using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry method (ICP-MS). Results. According to the snow mass analysis as an object of transit accumulation and distribution of ice-melting reagents, the authors ranked results and identified clusters with different degrees of contamination for many indices. Selecting the group with very high contamination enabled us determine the indices’ levels that limit the use of deicing reagents. When using sodium-chloride reagents, they are the levels of the specific electrical conductivity (SEC) ≥ 4500 µS/cm, the concentration of chloride anions (Cl- ≥ 2500 mg/l), the concentration of sodium ions (Na+) ≥1500 mg/l, the index of total contamination (Zc).

Introduction. The anti-icing materials (hereinafter - PGM), the use of which is necessary to ensure safety on the roads, enter into the soil during snow melting. In addition to the direct impact on human health, the use of PGM can affect it indirectly, worsening the state of environmental objects, including the state of the soil. According to the literature, the regular use of PGM along roads leads to the formation of man-made soil anomalies of high salt content, distributed along with the vertical and horizontal profiles. The high salt content causes an increase in the migration capacity of accompanying pollutants - heavy metals, translating them into mobile forms. The study of migration processes of toxicants is one of the hygienically significant tasks of regulation. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the total load of anti-icing materials on the soil. Material and methods. The effect of the solid PGM of the nitrate group, which consists of (NН2)2СO, Mg(NO3)2 and NH4NO3, was studied with varying degrees of stress on the upper root zone of sod-podzolic and urban soils to establish their absorptive capacity and salt migration to the underlying horizons in model experiment. Results. A significant amount of calcium cations (Ca2+) was established to be contained in aqueous filtrates as compared with the control. The process of calcium leaching occurs most intensively in the anthropogenically transformed urban soil, which is more susceptible to de-icing. Thus, it can be concluded the zonal (sod-podzolic) soil to have a greater accumulating capacity for the PGM components and low buffering activity in comparison with urban soil. Considering the specific features of soil processes under the influence of the PGM components, there is a danger of secondary pollution of groundwater. In this regard, the soil quality monitoring system should take into account an integrated approach, and preventive measures for the improvement of urban soil need to be planned, providing for the inevitability of the use of GMP in the winter to ensure road safety.