Browsing by Author "Golow, A.A."
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Item Mercury in the Surface Soil and Cassava, Manihot esculenta (Flesh, Leaves and Peel) Near Goldmines at Bogoso and Prestea, Ghana(Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 2012-12) Adjorlolo-Gasokpoh, A.; Golow, A.A.; Kambo-Dorsa, J.Mercury amalgamation is used indiscriminately in the recovery of gold by small-scale native gem winners in Ghana. Mercury is released into the environment in the form of wastewater, tailing and vapor from the roasting of amalgam to separate gold. The study looked at the levels of total mercury concentration in surface soil and cassava crop from farms located within the vicinities of Bogoso and Prestea Goldmines. The surface soil total mercury concentrations ranged between 125.29 and 352.52 μg/kg whiles cassava had between 66.60 and 195.47 μg/kg. The results showed proportionately more deposits at higher distances in 15-30 cm soil zone and less deposits at higher distances on leaves with relatively high uptake of the metal occurred at higher distances from the mines into the peels. These results suggest serious mercury pollution to the surface soil and the cassava crop but the speciation exercise showed that mercury is not in the free state, rather bound to hydroxides and organic compounds as complexes. © The Author(s) 2012.Item Multi-element analysis of Ghanaian crude oils by instrumental neutron activation analysis(Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 2012-06) Appenteng, M.K.; Adomako, D.; Saka, D.; Golow, A.A.; Hayford, M.S.; Sarfo, D.K.; Carboo, D.; Yamoah, A.K.K.Instrumental neutron activation analysis based on thermal neutrons from the Ghana Research Reactor-1 facility was utilized to analyze 18 trace elements namely Al, As, Br, Ca, Cd, Cl, Co, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, S, Si, V, and Zn in two different crude oil samples from the Saltpond and Jubilee field in the Saltpond, Central region and Cape Three Points, Western region of Ghana, respectively. The sulfur concentration for both samples were low and within globally accepted range of 0.1-0.5%wt for sweet crude oil. The results of the elemental analysis showed that the two samples are relatively low in trace element concentrations compared to crude oils of other countries. Higher Fe concentration in the Jubilee crude oil indicates younger oil. The V/Ni ratios obtained for crude oils from both locations imply a possible marine organic origin and also suggest the Saltpond crude oil is more matured than the Jubilee crude oil. © 2011 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary.