Forest filter effect for polybrominated diphenyl ethers in a tropical watershed (original) (raw)
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Environmental Pollution, 2011
This study reports concentrations of PBDEs in surface soil samples collected along a 140 km transect across Kuwait to assess the role of urban centers as sources of persistent organic pollutants to the surrounding environment. The SPBDE concentrations varied by a factor of w250 and ranged from 289 to 80,078 pg g À1 d.w. The concentrations of PBDEs in Kuwait City were significantly higher (p < 0.01) than those collected from sites outside the city supporting the hypothesis that urban centers are sources of PBDEs. The congener profiles were dominated by BDE-209, accounting for 93% of the PBDEs in the soil samples. The concentrations of all congeners (except BDE-209) were highly correlated with percent organic carbon (%OC) (p > 0.05) when the data from Kuwait City was omitted from the analysis. These findings suggest that soil concentrations outside the urban centers were close to equilibrium with the atmosphere.
Modelling the environmental fate of the polybrominated diphenyl ethers
Environment International, 2003
In response to growing alarm over the occurrence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in remote regions, this study considers their physical chemistry, environmental partitioning and considerations regarding potential for long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT). Internally consistent physical -chemical property data are presented for five representative congeners ) and used in a multimedia modelling approach. Results of the Level II model indicate that PBDEs will largely partition to organic carbon in soil and sediment and that their persistence will be strongly influenced by degradation rates in these media that are not well known. TaPL3 model estimates of their characteristic travel distance (CTD) suggest limited LRAT potential. The LRAT is also evaluated qualitatively, in terms of surface -air exchange behaviour. PBDEs are shown to be sensitive to seasonally and diurnally fluctuating temperatures. When vegetation is included in the model, 50% of the total mass of PBDE-47 deposited to vegetation returns to the atmosphere, suggesting that it may migrate through a series of deposition/volatilisation hops. Key data that needs to be identified in this evaluation include a better understanding of airsurface exchange, particularly to foliage, and measurements of degradation rates in soil, sediment and vegetation. Crown
Persistence of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in Agricultural Soils after Biosolids Applications
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2010
This study examines polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) levels, trends in biosolids from a wastewater treatment plant, and evaluates potential factors governing PBDE concentrations and the fate in agricultural soils fertilized by biosolids. The mean concentration of the most abundant PBDE congeners in biosolids ( P BDE-47, BDE-99, and BDE-209) generated by one wastewater treatment plant was 1250 ( 134 μg/kg d.w. with no significant change in concentration over 32 months (n = 15). In surface soil samples from the Mid-Atlantic region, average PBDE concentrations in soil from fields receiving no biosolids (5.01 ( 3.01 μg/kg d.w.) were 3 times lower than fields receiving one application (15.2 ( 10.2 μg/kg d.w.) and 10 times lower than fields that had received multiple applications (53.0 ( 41.7 μg/kg d.w.). The cumulative biosolids application rate and soil organic carbon were correlated with concentrations and persistence of PBDEs in soil. A model to predict PBDE concentrations in soil after single or multiple biosolids applications provides estimates which fall within a factor of 2 of observed values.
2008
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in leaves and soil from typical e-waste polluted area in South China were investigated. The concentrations (ng/g dry weight) of PBDE congeners and P PBDE of five leaf samples were much lower than those in soil sample. The general patterns of P di-BDEs to P hepta-BDEs percentage distribution in leaf samples were similar to those of the soil sample, except the percentage of BDE209 which were lower than in soil. The percentages of P di-BDEs to P hepta-BDEs in soil were in the range of those in leaf samples. The results showed that the contamination of PBDEs in the leaf samples had good correlation with the soil around them. Keywords PBDEs Á Leaves Á Soil Á e-waste Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are a group of additive brominated flame retardants that have been used widely in commercial and household products for decades (Alaee et al. 2003; Watanabe and Sakai 2003). Similar in physicochemical properties to a number of other persistent organic pollutants (POPs), they are persistent in the environment, bioaccumulated in biota, and are atmospherically transported long distances from their sources (Ikonomou et al. 2002). Because of their ubiquity and potential toxicity, two of the three commercial PBDE mixtures (''penta-BDE'' and ''octa-BDE'') have been banned by the European Union and by several US states. Sources of environmental PBDEs contamination include leakage from consumer products and industrial facilities that manufacture PBDEs, but also from disposal sites of PBDEcontaining products. To monitor the distribution of PBDEs in the environment, fish (Johnson and Olson 2001), birds (Voorspoels et al. 2006), bird eggs (Jonathan et al. 2006), and other biota have been used (Pettersson et al. 2004; Naert et al. 2006). On the assumption that their POPs concentrations broadly reflect ambient levels, herbage (Hassanin et al. 2005) and tree bark (Zhu and Hites 2006) have been used as 'environmental media' to investigate the long-range movement of PBDEs through the atmosphere. As facile samples, leaves should be researched in the distribution of PBDEs, but there are seldom reports on this point so far. We aimed the relationship between the PBDEs in plant leaves and those in soil around in an e-waste polluted area. Materials and Methods An EPA method 1614 standard solution of 39 PBDE congeners from Accustandard (New Haven, CT, USA) was used for the quantitation of the mono-through heptabrominated BDEs which contained the following PBDE congeners: mono
Environmental Pollution, 2022
This study aimed to evaluate the impact factors and effectiveness of management policies on the presence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in sediment samples in Taiwan from the last 10 years. Twenty-four PBDE congeners were detected in 838 sediment samples collected from 4 stages (2006–2019) in 30 principal rivers, based on the national project for background monitoring of the environmental distribution of chemical substances. The ΣPBDE concentrations in the 4 stages ranged from 30.00 to 147.10 ng/g dw, 6.03–15.30 ng/g dw, 4.99–7.00 ng/g dw, and 1.20–2.10 ng/g dw in the northern, southern, central, and eastern areas, respectively. The concentrations of PBDEs (e.g., penta-BDE and octa-BDE) in sediment samples notably decreased (−6 to −73%) as the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration implemented policies banning PBDEs (except deca-BDE). The PBDEs levels of the sediment samples collected in the dry season were higher than those collected in the wet season. The levels of ΣPBDEs in sediment samples were affected by season, the amount of general waste present, and nearby PBDE-related factories and e-waste recycling facilities. Reducing the release of PBDEs, especially deca-BDE, through sound waste management and recycling practices is still needed to improve environmental sustainability in Taiwan.