Heavy metal pollution from phosphate rock used for the production of fertilizer in Pakistan

Phosphate rock belongs mainly to sedimentary, slightly to igneous, and negligibly to metamorphic rocks. It is used for the production of phosphorous based fertilizers, acids, detergents and many products of common use. The rock is mainly composed of phosphorous and minutely of many other elements. The aim of this study was to determine the concentration of Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, Zn (environmental pollutants i.e. toxic elements), and Co, K, Mg, Mn, Na (common elements) in phosphate rocks used for production of fertilizer in Pakistan. Rock samples of local origin were collected from the geological rock formations around the city of Abbottabad and those of foreign origin were obtained from the fertilizer factories and research institutes in Pakistan. Analysis of phosphate rock for all the elements of interest was carried out with Flame Atomic Absorption spectrometer (FAAS) except for sodium which was analyzed using Flame Photometer, while the concentration of potassium was determined using both the techniques. The results showed that heavy metal content was lower in Pakistani phosphate than that in imported rock and were below the safe limits with the exception of lead whose concentration was found to be higher in local phosphate deposits than that in imported rock samples. Phosphate rock is a source of heavy metal pollution of air, soil, water, food chain etc, therefore requires removal of heavy metals (HMs) from the rock prior to its use.