Abstract

Industrialization and associate activities are now considered as major contributors of environmental pollution, including heavy metals. In this work, industrial wastes were collected and analyzed from some major industries around Katsina state for elemental analysis using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) technique available at the Centre for Energy Research and Training (CERT), A.B.U., Zaria. The results of the study indicated the presence of heavy elements such as Nickel (Ni), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Lead (Pb), Manganese (Mn), Copper (Cu) and Iron (Fe) at high level in most of the samples. The result obtained from the analyzed wastes were compared with the International recommended permissible limit for tolerable level of heavy metal contaminants in drinking water quality and found to be at higher concentrations than the set level. The presence of excess level of these toxic elements beyond the maximum contaminant level (MCL) may cause harmful effect to human health. Since the wastes are recklessly deposited in the living environment, they can easily contaminate the surrounding air, water or food. The results obtained were also compared with other similar works on related samples using related experimental techniques.

Key words: XRF, Heavy metals, Katsina, Industrial wastes.