COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND PUBLIC HEALTH IMPLICATION OF HEAVY METALS IN COMBUSTED COAL AND COAL

ABSTRACT Researchers are quite concerned about the concentration of heavy metals as it affects humans and other living organisms. This is especially true of the heavy metals' when present in coal and bottom coal ash. In this study, we compared the levels of heavy metals in coal and bottom coal ash, analyzed the findings and compared the toxicity and utility of the findings, to enhance the understanding of the level of toxicity and utility of certain heavy metals, in order to determine through comparative analysis which of the substance contains the highest level of hazardous heavy metal. Heavy metal concentrations in both substances were measured using an atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS). The results showed that lead had the highest concentration in both materials and that its value was significantly higher than the World Health Organization's (WHO) permissible threshold level.In coal, the concentration was 178.65 mg/kg, or 0.0179%, while in bottom coal ash, or combust coal, it was 160.85 mg/kg, or 0.0161%. These findings indicate that both substances are toxic and environmental pollutant due to their respective values of concentration which is significantly higher than the permissible threshold.The findings indicated that Lead (Pb) is a very toxic substance even at low concentration to living organism had a higher concentration than in coal than in bottom cool ash while other elements were within the WHO permissible value and are of great biological function to living organism. It was observed that the concentration of lead in coal is higher than that of bottom coal ash while other heavy metal had more concentration in bottom coal ash than coal. These findings indicates that coal which has become a major material for cooking and other domestic activities could lead issues of public health concern if efforts are not made to ameliorate the situation