Abstract
Heavy metals in the environment may be toxic for human and animals. Tanneries are a source of pollution by heavy metals. There is little information on heavy metals pollution in tanneries, especially on metals produced by the process of hair burning and liming. Liming is the first stage of chemical treatment where animal hair or wool is removed with sodium sulphide and calcium oxide. Here we studied cow, goat, buffalo and sheep hair, conventional liming agents and liming wastewaters from several sources. Samples were acid-digested and aliquots were analysed by atomic absorption spectroscopy following APHA standard method to measure concentrations of arsenic, lead, cadmium, zinc, manganese and iron. Results show that the range of metal contents in hair or wool and liming agents are 1.3–8.2 mg/kg for arsenic, 0.02–21.8 mg/kg for lead, 17.7–121.0 mg/kg for manganese, 7.3–141.1 mg/kg for zinc and 119.6–10613.8 mg/kg for iron. Liming wastewaters contain 1.9–5.6 µg/L arsenic, 0.03–6.05 µg/L lead, 38.6–139.0 µg/L manganese, 144.0–171.5 µg/L zinc and 399.5–1069.0 µg/L iron. Cadmium was below detection limits. This is the first investigation that reveals that hair burning liming operation is a potential source of heavy metals in the environment.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Public Health Association (APHA) (2012) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. American Public Health Association, American Water Works Association, Water Environment Federation, Washington DC
Bailey DC (2013) Milady standard natural hair care and braiding. Cengage Learning, Clifton Park, NY
Beernaert J, Schiers J, Leirs H, Blust R, Verhagen R (2007) Non-destructive pollution exposure assessment by means of wood mice hair. Environ Pollut 145:443–451. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2006.04.025
Bhagure GR, Mirgane SR (2011) Heavy metal concentrations in groundwaters and soils of Thane Region of Maharashtra, India. Environ Monit Assess 173:643–652. doi:10.1007/s10661-010-1412-9
Bhushan B, Chen N (2006) AFM studies of environmental effects on nanomechanical properties and cellular structure of human hair. Ultramicroscopic 106:755–764. doi:10.1016/j.ultramic.2005.12.010
Bibi S, Kamran MK, Sultana J, Farooqi A (2017) Occurrence and methods to remove arsenic and fluoride contamination in water. Environ Chem Lett 15:125–149. doi:10.1007/s10311-016-0590-2
Burger J, Marquez M, Gochfeld M (1994) Heavy metals in the hair of opossum from Palo Verde, Costa Rica. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 27:472–476. doi:10.1007/BF00214838
Escobar MO, Hue N, Cutler W (2016) Recent developments on arsenic: contamination and remediation. Recent Res Dev Bioenerg 4:1–32
FAO (2013) Market and policy analyses of raw materials, horticulture and tropical products team, world statistical compendium for raw hides and skins, leather and leather footwear 1993–2012, Trade and Markets Division, pp 25–45
Fazal MA, Kawachi T, Ichion E (2001) Extent and severity of groundwater arsenic contamination in Bangladesh. Water Int 26:370–379
Filistowicz A, Dobrzanski Z, Przysiecki P, Nowicki S, Filistowicz A (2011) Concentration of heavy metals in hair and skin of silver and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes). Environ Monit Assess 182:477–484. doi:10.1007/s10661-011-1891-3
Gowd SS, Reddy MR, Govil PK (2010) Assessment of heavy metal contamination in soils at Jajmau (Kanpur) and Unnao industrial areas of the Ganga Plain, Uttar Pradesh, India. J Hazard Mater 174:113–121. doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2009.09.024
Ikehata K, Jin Y, Maleky N, Lin A (2014) Heavy metal pollution in water resources in China–occurrences and public health implications. In: Sharma SK (ed) Heavy metals in water: presence, removal and safety. Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, pp 141–167
INSPIRED Program for Bangladesh (2013) Technical report: leather sector includes a value chain analysis and proposed action plans. Bangladesh INSPIRED, Dhaka
Jaishankar M, Tseten T, Anbalagan N, Mathew BB, Beeregowda KN (2014) Toxicity, mechanism and health effects of some heavy metals. Interdiscip Toxicol 7:60–72. doi:10.2478/intox-2014-0009
Järup L (2003) Hazards of heavy metal contamination. Br Med Bull 68(167–182):2003. doi:10.1093/bmb/ldg032
Jian S, Wenyi T, Wuyong C (2011) Kinetics of enzymatic unhairing by protease in leather industry. J Clean Prod 19:325–331. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2010.10.011
Khan MS, Zaidi A, Wani PA, Oves M (2009) Role of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria in the remediation of metal contaminated soils. Environ Chem Lett 7:1–19. doi:10.1007/s10311-008-0155-0
Krishna AK, Govil PK (2007) Soil contamination due to heavy metals from an industrial area of Surat, Gujarat, Western India. Environ Monit Assess 124:263–275. doi:10.1007/s10661-006-9224-7
Krysiak A, Karczewska A (2007) Arsenic extractability in soils in the areas of former arsenic mining and smelting, SW Poland. Sci Total Environ 379:190–200. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2006.09.031
Kumaresan M, Riyazuddin P (2001) Overview of speciation chemistry of arsenic. Curr Sci 80(7):837–846
Li J, Cen D, Huang D, Li X, Xu J, Fu S, Cai R, Wu X, Tang M, Sun Y, Zhang J, Zheng J (2014) Detection and analysis of 12 heavy metals in blood and hair sample from a general population of Pearl River Delta area. Cell Biochem Biophys 70(3):1663–1669. doi:10.1007/s12013-014-0110-6
McLean CM, Koller CE, Rodger JC, MacFarlane GR (2009) Mammalian hair as an accumulative bioindicator of metal bioavailability in Australian terrestrial environments. Sci Total Environ 407:3588–3596. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2009.01.038
Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) (1997) The Environment Conservation Rules. Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka
National Research Council (2001) Arsenic in drinking water. National Academy Press, Washington, DC
Patra RC, Swarup D, Naresh R, Kumar P, Sekhar P, Ranjan R (2005) Cadmium level in blood and milk from animals reared around different polluting sources in India. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 74:1092–1097. doi:10.1007/s00128-005-0693-0
Patra RC, Swarup D, Naresh R, Kumar P, Nandi D, Shekhar P, Roy S, Ali SL (2007) Tail hair as an indicator of environmental exposure of cows to lead and cadmium in different industrial areas. Ecotox Environ Safe 66:127–131. doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2006.01.005
Phillips C, Gyori Z, Kovacs B (2003) The effect of adding cadmium and lead alone or in combination to the diet of pigs on their growth, carcase composition and reproduction. J Sci Food Agric 83:1357–1365. doi:10.1002/jsfa.1548
Robbins CR (1994) Chemical and physical behavior of human hair, 3rd edn. Springer, New York, p 1994
Sardans J, Montes F, Peñuelas J (2011) Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometry to Determine As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, and Pb in Soils and Sediments: A Review and Perspectives. Soil Sediment Contam 20(4):447–491. doi:10.1080/15320383.2011.571526
Singh R, Gautam N, Mishra A, Gupta R (2011) Heavy metals and living systems: an overview. Indian J Pharmacol 43:246–253. doi:10.4103/0253-7613.81505
Swarup D, Patra RC, Naresh R, Kumar P, Shekhar P (2005) Blood lead levels in lactating cows reared around polluted localities; transfer of lead into milk. Sci Total Environ 347:06–110. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2004.12.055
Syed AN (2015) The chemical composition of hair. http://www.dralinsyed.com/blog/2015/7/31/the-chemical-composition-of-hair
UNIDO (2012) Cleaner leather technologies suitable for tanneries in developing countries (Hair-save Liming Process), Eighteenth Session of the leather and leather products industry panel, Shanghai, China, 1–5 Sept 2012
Yadav RS, Chandravanshi LP, Shukla RK, Sankhwar ML, Ansari RW, Shukla PK, Pant AB, Khanna VK (2011) Neuroprotective efficacy of curcumin in arsenic induced cholinergic dysfunctions in rats. NeuroToxicology 32:760–768. doi:10.1016/j.neuro.2011.07.004
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hashem, M.A., Nur-A-Tomal, M.S., Mondal, N.R. et al. Hair burning and liming in tanneries is a source of pollution by arsenic, lead, zinc, manganese and iron. Environ Chem Lett 15, 501–506 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-017-0634-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-017-0634-2