Assessment of Heavy Metals, Organic Carbon and Physico-Chemical Properties of Roadside Dust from a Nigerian School Campus

Abstract

University of Ilorin is one of the most populated Universities in Nigeria. Roadside dust was collected from the busiest roads of the university permanent site and level of heavy metals (Fe, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb), organic carbon and physico-chemical properties of the dust were assessed. Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (Buck Scientific 210/211VGP) was used to analyse for heavy metals while appropriate standard methods were employed for the determination of organic carbon, pH, conductivity, particle density and bulk density of the roadside dust. The pH of dust from all roads was almost alkaline (7.2 – 7.6), particle density ranged from 1.60 - 2.14 gml-1, bulk density ranged from 1.03 – 1.62 gml-1, electrical conductivity ranged from 0.25 to 0.57µScm-1, organic carbon (OC) content of all roadside dust ranged from 0.9 % - 1.2 %. While Pb was obtained to be absent in all the roadside dust samples, it was observed that the abundance of other heavy metals at all the various sampling points and control followed the order Fe >>>Zn >> Cu > Cd. The average level of Fe in the control site was 2443.85 mg/kg which was very lower to that from other sites in the study. The results for the metal pollution index (MPI) show that all the roads were polluted with Fe, Cu, Zn and Cd. The levels of the metals showed a dependence on anthropogenic pollution such as vehicle density compared with the control site.