Assessment of Heavy Metals Concentration in Soil of Champion Breweries Plc, Aka Offot, Uyo, Southern Nigeria Using X-Ray Fluorescence Technique

The contamination of heavy metals present in soil of Champion Breweries Plc, Aka Offot, Uyo, in Southern Nigeria was assessed. In application of XRF techniques, seventeen (17) heavy metals, namely potassium (K), calcium(Ca), titanium (Ti), vanadium (V), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), gallium (Ga), arsenic (As), bromine (Br), rubidium (Rb), strontium (Sr), yttrium(Y), and zirconium (Zr), were determined from each of the soil samples obtained at four (4) sampling sites. Fe had the highest concentration in all the sampling sites in the range of 17320.0 – 29380.0 ppm and Ga had the lowest concentration in all the four-sampling site, ranging from 8.16 – 62.713 ppm. Co was only detected in one sampling site. The Enrichment factor (EF), geo-accumulation index (Igeo) and contamination factor (CF) were used as pollution indices to assess the toxicity threat posed on that part of the ecosystem by the investigated heavy metals. The results of the three pollutions indices were similar, indicating that the part of the industry was highly polluted with Cr, Rb, Zr, Zn, and Mn, Pb at some point. These high inputs of the heavy metals might be due to pronounced anthropogenic influences around the studied area. Analysis of multivariate statistics such as Pearson’s Correlation coefficient and cluster analysis were also applied to ascertain the relationship and sources of investigated heavy metals. Both positive and negative correlations were observed among some heavy metals. Rb was observed to have a strong positive correlation with As, Ga, Zn. Ti has a strong negative correlation with Cr, Br, Rb and a strong positive value with Fe and Zr which suggest that these elements are from the same origin. Low correlation between Ca -As, Ga - Zr, Mn – Rb, etc suggest that they come from different sources. Cluster analysis revealed two main clusters, this shows that elements in each of the cluster can specifically be said to come from the same source.