Chromium in the environment of Finland

This paper focuses upon the use, import and release of chromium to the environment of Finland. In addition, the behavior of trivalent and hexavalent chromium in soils has been briefly reviewed. In Finland, consumption of chromium compounds occurs in the following pattern: stainless steel>leather tanning>metal plating>chemicals. The emission of chromium has decreased from 114 t in 1979 to 28 t in 1995. The highest release of chromium continues to be from ferrochromium and stainless steel plants. From these facilities, 85% of slag and dusts are used by a secondary facility to recover valuable metal. In the industrial areas, the oxidizing behavior of chromium (III) is still unknown. In this study, the leachability of chromium (VI) to ground water and its effects on terrestrial and aquatic species in Finland are discussed.