Determination of concentrations of chromium and other elements in soil and plant samples from leather tanning area by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis

Abstract

Chromium, one of the toxic elements, along with other elements has been determined in samples of soil and plant (leaves and seeds) from Jajmau Area, Kanpur district, India, which is irrigated with effluent waste water from leather tanning industries. Soil and plant samples were collected from these areas and analyzed by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) using high flux reactor neutrons and high resolution gamma-ray spectrometry. Concentrations of fifteen elements in soil and five elements in plant samples were determined by relative method. Chromium concentrations were found to be in range of 45–3,900 mg kg−1in soil samples and 14–83 mg kg−1 in plant samples. This study showed that Cr is present in significant amounts, in the soil as well as in the plant samples, near to the leather tanning area. As a part of quality control work, IAEA reference material (RM) SL-3 and NIST standard reference material (SRM) 1645 were analyzed and the quality of the results has been evaluated by calculating % deviations from recommended/literature/certified values.