Determination of formaldehyde content from disposal of formalin fixed biological specimen buried in soil by Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrophotometer

Incineration technology is the best way to eliminate hospital waste, however, usage of incineration would lead to environmental pollution. Therefore, University Science of Malaysia Hospital (HUSM) has used formalin in their dead biological specimens to provide high resistance from decaying quickly before buried at cemetery area. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the concentration of formaldehyde in soil either give adverse impact to the soil or not. It was an important information to the community at the HUSM on the suitability of burying biological specimens that have been treated by formalin, thus can help them in selecting and designing proper way of biological waste disposal for references. In this study, soil fertility associated with pH, moisture content and organic matter were evaluated. The amount of soil elemental distribution and formaldehyde concentration of pre-burial and post-burial of biological specimen also have been evaluated by using Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) and Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrophotometer instrument respectively. The absorbance value for standard curve of formaldehyde was determined at reflectance 412 nm. The results showed that the soil fertility in terms of pH at Point C (closest point to burial) indicates neutral pH (even though formalin was an acidic) while its moisture content in optimum condition and the organic matter percentage was medium before burial and become low after burial within a period of three months. For X-Ray Fluorescence (XFR) analysis at Point C, soil elemental distribution after burial of dead biological specimens has higher concentration compared to before the burial. According to United States of Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Regulatory, all the elemental distribution detected before and after burial were still below the recommended limits. Lastly, the concentration of formalin at Point C was higher after the burial of dead biological specimen compared to before burial. The highest and lowest concentration of formalin at Point C were I 75.10 mgL-1 and 148.83 mgL-1 respectively, which exceeds the tolerable concentration recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).