Samad Jalilian; Sima Sabzalipour; Maryam Mohammadi Rouzbahani; Ebrahim Rajabzadeh Ghatrami; Leila Ibrahimy Ghavamabadi
Abstract
Background: Specific improvements in the risk assessment of chemicals have been recently considered by many national and international expert groups. This study aimed to identify the highest occupational exposure levels in Abadan Oil Refining Company, Iran, to benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and ...
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Background: Specific improvements in the risk assessment of chemicals have been recently considered by many national and international expert groups. This study aimed to identify the highest occupational exposure levels in Abadan Oil Refining Company, Iran, to benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) in 2020. Methods: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study carried out in several units (ten units) in Abadan Oil Refining Company. Air sampling and BTEX analysis were conducted according to NIOSH method number 1501. To determine the risk of exposure to BTEX pollutants, we used the method proposed by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health of Malaysia. Then, the hazard rate, exposure rate, and health risk level caused by exposure to chemicals were determined. Spss20 software was used to analyze the data. Results: The results showed the employees studied in this research were exposed to the pollutants of BTEX during their work. Comparing total BTEX concentrations with the recommended standard level showed that BTEX concentrations in Abadan Oil Refining Company Workers’ breathing zone were lower than the TLV-TWA recommended by ACGIH; also, the findings of this risk assessment study showed benzene had the highest risk ranking in seven operating units and a low risk ranking in three other units. Moreover, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene had a very low risk in all operating units. Conclusion: Corrective and preventive measures should be taken to eliminate or minimize the exposure rate due to the significant effects of benzene exposure.
Ladan Khajeh Hoseini; Reza Jalilzadeh Yengejeh; Ali Mahmoudie; Maryam Mohammadi Rouzbehani; Sima Sabz Alipour
Abstract
Background:The spread of urbanization and industrialization, as well as changes in lifestyle and consumption patterns in recent years, especially in developing countries, has led to the production of huge volumes of pollution in urban and industrial areas. How to plan and manage them is one of the issues ...
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Background:The spread of urbanization and industrialization, as well as changes in lifestyle and consumption patterns in recent years, especially in developing countries, has led to the production of huge volumes of pollution in urban and industrial areas. How to plan and manage them is one of the issues and problems in the world today. And if the environment is not taken into account at the same time as the industrialization of a society, not only will economic development not be achieved, but there will be many problems so that sometimes the long-term benefits of an industry are spent on compensation. Methods: The isa descriptive-analyticalstudy. Various steps were taken, including the results of statistical analysis, Delphi questionnaires, analysis of validity and reliability of the research, and extraction of influential factors affecting the performance of the ROP unit of Abadan Oil Refinery in 2019 until 2020. Finally, the results of weighting and ranking of effective strategic parameters in decision-making, decision-making and policy-making processes of different items including factors (components), criteria, sub-criteria, and strategic plans are presented. Using Expert Choice 2000 software, we weighed the parameters, and Cronbach's alpha was determined to be 0.932. Results: The results of weighting and ranking of effective strategic parameters in the decision-making process and policymaking of various items are presented.Finally, the component of human environment around the refinery with a weight priority of 0.288 in the first rank, the component of natural environment, the HSE component of the refinery with a weight of 0.244 in the second rank, and the components of technical characteristics and conditions of the refinery with a weight of 0.112 were in the third place. Conclusion:In this case study, we found thatthe greatest need for management was specific to the human environment, such as land use and development plans around the refinery, and the state of air and soil pollution and water resources. Introduction Developing and advanced countries in their development process have faced the problem of wastewater from oil, gas, petrochemical and energy industries[1,2], which is one of the problems of their industrial development process, as one of the important sources of environmental pollution[3]. There are currently many efforts around the world to overcome this problem[4]. Given the process of industrial development of countries and the increasing use of oil and energy resources[5,6], the existence of wastewater in related industries is an inevitable phenomenon that requires proper management[7,8]. Refineries are one of the most widely used water sources in Iran which are often in the center or adjacent to large cities and even some within cities. Abadan Oil Refinery, due to its location in the city centre, causes a lot of pollution and produces unpleasant odors in the region. This affects the health of the refinery staff and the residents. In this research, to strategically manage the ROP system of Abadan Oil Refinery wastewater treatment plant, we usedAHP [9,10]. The ROP (Recovery Oil Plant) unit is the one used to purify petroleum products at the Abadan Oil Refinery. At the beginning of this unit, there is a uniform pool where the unit effluent first enters. In this pool, the flow rate decreases to a large extent and the flow alleviates, so the oil materials have a higher chance of rising due to being lighter than water [11-12,13]. They are found on the surface and the suspended solids settle in the structure. After that, the oil that has accumulated on the surface of the water enters the separating ponds with the water. AHP is one of the decision-making methods[14,15]. The term AHP stands for Analytical Hierarchy process, meaning the analysis of hierarchical process[16,17]. Selection of the criterion is the first part of AHP analysis[18,19]. Candidates are then assessed based on the identified criteria. The word options or candidates also means the word alternative or candidates and is used interchangeably. The reason for the hierarchical reading of this method is that we must first start with the goals and strategies of the organization at the top of the pyramid, and by expanding them, we can identify the criteria to reach the bottom of the pyramid. This is one of the most widely used methods for ranking and determining the importance of factors, which is used to prioritize each of the criteria using pairwise[20]comparisons. The goal of the analysis of hierarchical process technique is to select the best option based on different criteria through pairwise comparison. This technique is also used to weigh the criteria. Because increasing the number of elements in each cluster makes it difficult to compare the pairs, they usually divide the decision criteria into sub-criteria.
