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Risk assessment of human exposure to heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and radionuclides in oil-based drilling cutting residues used for roadbed materials in Chongqing, China

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Abstract

Oil-based drilling cutting residues (OBDCRs) contain many kinds of carcinogenic contaminants, such as heavy metal elements, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and natural radioactive materials (NORMs), which are great risks for the environment and human health. This study investigated the chemical composition, the radioactive strength, the heavy metal contents, and the org matter contents in OBDCRs and estimated the health risks due to exposure to heavy metals, PAHs, and radionuclides in OBDCRs used for roadbed materials. From the measurements, it was found that the content values of benzopyrene (a), diphenylanthracene (a, h), and petroleum hydrocarbons exceeded the standard limit. The content values of Cu, Zn, As, and Ni were higher than 50% of the standard limit. If OBDCRs were directly used to make roadbed materials, the total carcinogenic risk values (CRn) of As, benzoanthracene (a), benzopyrene (a), and dibenzoanthracene (a, h) were all higher than 10−6. The average absorbed dose rate was higher than 80 nGy/h. There were greater risks of carcinogenic environment and potential harms to human health. To reduce the health risks, it is necessary to consider the strategy of the utilization of OBDCRs, the working time, and the service life of the recycled OBDCRs and establish a legal standard and liability for the utilization of OBDCRs as solid waste resources.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Dr. Chaoqiang Wang and the reviewers for their valuable opinions, which greatly improved the quality of the paper.

Funding

This research was supported by “Study on raw material substitution technology for monitoring and evaluation of drilling cuttings landfill tank and collaborative disposal of landfill body cement kiln” (Grant No. cstc2019jcyj-msxmX0651).

Availability of data and materials

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chongqing Environmental Protection Center for Shale Gas Technology & Development, Fuling, Chongqing, 408000, China

    Deming Xiong

  2. School of Material Science and Engineering, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing, 400074, China

    Chaoqiang Wang

Authors
  1. Deming Xiong
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  2. Chaoqiang Wang
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Contributions

De-ming Xiong: framework design and experiments, data and relevant mechanism analysis, writing—original draft, and writing—review, revised, and editing.

Chao-qiang Wang: assisting with research, experiments, and data analysis.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chaoqiang Wang.

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Any experimental research on animals should follow the internationally recognized guidelines. However, in this study, we did not conduct any human or animal experiments, so we do not need the moral consent of the relevant departments.

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Nobody participated in the human or animal experiment.

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All authors agreed to publish the article.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Responsible Editor: Lotfi Aleya

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Xiong, D., Wang, C. Risk assessment of human exposure to heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and radionuclides in oil-based drilling cutting residues used for roadbed materials in Chongqing, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 48171–48183 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13871-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13871-0

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