Atmospheric particle-bound organophosphate ester flame retardants and plasticizers in a North African Mediterranean coastal city (Bizerte, Tunisia)

Abstract

Organophosphate ester (OPE) flame retardants and plasticizers have been detected at generally high frequencies (70-98%) for the first time in the atmosphere over the NW African coastal Mediterranean. Results from sixty air samples (total suspended particles, TSP) collected between March 2015 and January 2016 in an urban coastal site (Bizerte, Tunisia) revealed ∑OPE concentrations of ~100-1060 pg m (470 pg m, median) with TCPPs, EHDPP and TiBP exhibiting the higher median concentrations (~110, 100 and 85 pg m, respectively). Spring generally exhibited the lowest concentrations, probably linked to the influence of local meteorological conditions and air mass trajectories to a lesser extent. Non-chlorinated OPEs generally predominated, in contrast to the most common reported situation in marine environments (i.e. higher abundance of chlorinated OPEs) pointing to the relevance of local OPE sources in the study area. TiBP levels were generally higher than those reported for other marine/coastal environments suggesting this OPE as a good tracer of local sources in Bizerte. Contrarily, the atmospheric levels of other abundant OPEs in the area (e.g. TCPP) seem to be in the range and/or lower than those reported for remote marine environments. These findings point to the interplay of different factors with solar irradiance (potentially enhancing atmospheric photochemical oxidation reactions) and meteorological conditions in the study area likely compensating potential local sources of some OPEs. Not all OPEs presented the same seasonality in terms of atmospheric concentrations and pattern. The estimated atmospheric dry deposition fluxes (∑OPEs) were 18-180 ng m d. Up to ~9 kg y of OPEs (~1 kg y of new organic anthropogenic phosphorus coming from OPEs) can be loaded to the shallow and enclosed Bizerte lagoon (~130 km), considered as the most important aquaculture area in Tunisia, with yet unknown implications for the environmental exposure and impacts in the ecosystem functioning.

Measurement report: Seasonal, distribution and sources of organophosphate esters in PM<sub>2.5</sub> from an inland urban city in southwest China

“…No point source was identified in summer and the OPEs level was diluted and diffused in summer due to the higher wind speed than in winter in the inland city. This was different from the coastal cities: Liu et al (2016) reported that the highest TCPP and TCEP concentrations were observed in the summer in Guangzhou and Javier et al (2018) found the OPEs in spring generally exhibited the lowest concentrations in Bizerte, Tunisia, probably linked to the influence of local meteorological conditions and air mass trajectories to a lesser extent.…”

Chemical composition and in vitro aryl hydrocarbon receptor-mediated activity of atmospheric particulate matter at an urban, agricultural and industrial site in North Africa (Bizerte, Tunisia)

“…A year-long sampling campaign was conducted in a North African city (Bizerte, Tunisia) which was affected by a considerable anthropogenic pressure in last decade due to the increase of urbanization, traffic density and economic activity, including agriculture, fishing and heavy industries. The chemical composition of atmospheric PM and its sources in Tunisia have been described previously (Castro-Jiménez et al, 2017;Castro-Jiménez and Sempéré, 2018;Barhoumi et al, 2018Barhoumi et al, , 2020; however, studies on atmospheric Hg PM and the toxicological effects of atmospheric PM are not available in Tunisia yet. Therefore, the objective of this study is to (1) investigate the concentration levels, seasonal variability and sources of Hg PM in Bizerte city, and (2) to assess the dioxin-like potency of atmospheric PM using an in vitro reporter gene assay (DR-CALUX).…”

“…For sampling, a high volume air sampler equipped with a precombusted quartz fiber filters (QFFs) was used to collect the samples for 48 h at an average flow of 0.66 m 3 min -1 . At regular intervals, field blanks were collected to provide an environmental background blank filter for biological and chemical assessment (Castro-Jiménez and Sempéré, 2018). Then, QFFs were wrapped in aluminum foil, transported to the laboratory and stored in a freezer at -20 °C before processing.…”

Measurement report: Seasonality, distribution and sources of organophosphate esters in PM<sub>2.5</sub> from an inland urban city in Southwest China

“…OPEs are widely distributed in the environment and have been detected in air (Guo et al, 2016;, water (Wang et al, 2013;Li et al, 2014), soil (Yin et al, 2016), sediment Celano, et al, 2014) and organisms (Kim et al, 2011). However, many scholars have found that OPE residues in the environment can cause toxic effects on organisms (WHO, 1998;Kanazawa et al, 2010;Van der Veen and de Boer, 2012;Du et al, 2015). Some countries have enacted legislature to restrict the usage of OPEs (Blum et al, 2019;Exponent, 2018;State of California, 2020).…”