Ecological-health risks assessment and characteristic pollutants identification of heavy metals in the soils of a coking plant in production in Guangxi, China

In response to the detailed investigation in the production enterprise by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People's Republic of China, The investigation of soil pollution potential risk in a coking welfare plant in Liuzhou was carried out. Meanwhile, the key facilities and regions were identified. The monitoring factors in the soil of the plant were evaluated to judge the ecological risk and health risk caused by heavy metals (HMs) in the soil. At the same time, the application of ArcGIS was used for concentration interpolation analysis. The correlation analysis and principal component analysis of HMs in soil were applied to identify the characteristic pollutants. It was found that all HMs detected were probably the characteristic contaminant from the plant. The results showed that nickel (Ni) and arsenic (As) exceeded the screening values of the second class of using-land in standard GB36600-2018. It was found that Ni and As in the soil of the plant had different degrees of pollution. The hydrargyrum (Hg) was considered as high ecological hazards at all sites. The areas with high ecological hazard were close to the furnace ash storage area and its treatment area. Though within an acceptable range, it was found that As and Ni in the plant had a health risk to workers of the plant. The results of this study can provide experience and example for other enterprises with heavy metal pollution. This study applied the standard GB 36600-2018 promulgated in recent years to assess health risks from pollution soil, verifying the feasibility of the implementation of this standard in China. It also makes a contribution to encourage more environmental management and investigations in production enterprises of potential pollution hazards of land information in the world.