Characterization of Polybrominated Dibenzo-p-Dioxins and Dibenzofurans in Different Atmospheric Environments

Abstract

Few studies have measured polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PBDD/Fs) in the atmosphere. In this study,four categories of atmospheric environments, including rural (Kengting national park, Taitung county, and Yilan county), urban (north Kaohsiung city and south Taichung city), industrial (Lin-hai industrial park), and science park (Hsinchu science park) areas were investigated for their characteristics of 2,3,7,8-substituted PBDD/F and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs). The elevated PCDD/F I-TEQ concentrations and higher ratio of PCDFs to PCDDs in the industrial areas reveal that the metallurgical facilities, including sinter plants, electric arc furnaces, secondary aluminum smelters, and secondary copper smelters, significantly influence their surrounding atmospheric environments. The mean PBDD/F concentrations in the atmosphere of the rural, urban, industrial, and science park areas were 11, 24, 46, and 95 fg/Nm3, respectively, while the corresponding mean TEQ concentrations were 2.7, 6.4, 12, and 31 fg TEQ/Nm3, respectively. The significantly high correlation (r = 0.85, p = 0.034)found betweenthe PBDD/F and PCDD/F concentrations in the atmospheres of the industrial areas reveals that the metallurgical facilities are also the most likely PBDD/F emission sources in the industrial areas. The PBDD/F concentration in the science park area was approximately 2-fold higher than that in the industrial areas, whereas PCDD/F I-TEQ concentration in the area was only 23% of that in the industrial areas. The elevated PBDD/F concentrations in the science park areas may be attributed to the use of polybrominated diphenyl ethers as brominated flame retardants in the electrical and electronics industries, which contribute to direct PBDD/F emissions into the environment. PBDFs were all much more dominant than PBDDs in the atmosphere, and their mass fractions increase with PBDD/F concentrations.

Level and congener profiles of polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans in the atmosphere of Beijing, China

“…This also was found in our study. Comparatively, PBDD/F in our study in Beijing were higher than in urban areas of Germany (WHO, 1998a,b) and Taiwan (Wang et al, 2008), but lower than Osaka, Japan (WHO, 1998a,b) and other special emission sources, such as Guiyu in China (Li et al, 2007).…”

“…PBDD/Fs, which are PCDD/F analogs with all chlorine atoms substituted by bromine (WHO, 1994), have received less concern than PCDD/Fs, and data about their environmental level are very scarce. Up to now, PBDD/Fs have been identified and determined in several matrices including: ambient air in Kyoto (Hayakawa et al, 2004), Osaka (Ohta et al, 2002;Watanabe et al, 1995), Shanghai (Li et al, 2008) and at different locations in Taiwan (Wang et al, 2008), at electronic waste dismantling areas in China (Li et al, 2007), in plastics from waste TV sets (Tasaki et al, 2004), as a constituent of flue gases (Wang and Chang-Chien, 2007;Schüler and Jager, 2004), fly ash (Weber and Kuch, 2003;Hagberg et al, 2005;Sovocool et al, 1989;Schwind et al, 1988), sediments (Watanabe et al, 1995;Choi et al, 2003a,b;Hagberg et al, 2005), diet samples (Nomura et al, 2007), shellfish (Fernandes et al, 2008), fish (Ashizuka et al, 2008), adipose tissue (Choi et al, 2003a,b), human milk (Ohta et al, 2002), and blood from people with occupational exposure (Zober et al, 1992). Concerns about PBDD/Fs have increased because brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are extensively used in a variety of materials and are miscible with most plastics.…”

Long-term persistence of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans in air, soil and sediment around an abandoned pentachlorophenol factory in China

“…The total 2,3,7,8-substituted PCDD/F concentration in ambient air at the reference site 50 km from the plant was 1993 fg/m 3 , one order of magnitude lower than in the samples from Tanggu District. When compared with ambient air quality data reported in other industrial areas, the mean total PCDD/F concentration around this abandoned PCP plant is higher than in Italy around a municipal solid waste incinerator (1.18e6.06 pg/m 3 ) (Colombo et al, 2009); more than 15 times higher than in an industrial area of Taiwan (Wang et al, 2007); and almost 20 times higher than around a steel plant in Northeast China (Li et al, 2010). These results demonstrate that there is a high level PCDD/F contamination in the ambient air around this abandoned PCP plant, and the impact of this contaminated site on ambient air quality is significant.…”

Levels and Congener Profiles of Particle-bound Polybrominated Dibenzo-p-dioxins/furans (PBDD/Fs) in Ambient Air around Guangzhou, China

“…A certain number of reports and conferences have showed the occurrence of PBDD/Fs in ambient air (Hayakawa et al 2004;Li et al 2007Li et al , 2008Wang et al 2008), consumer products like plastics and TV sets (WHO 1998), sediments (Choi et al 2003a;Ren et al 2009), biota samples (Fernandes et al 2008) and even human samples (Choi et al 2003b), which proved that PBDD/Fs were ubiquitous in the environment. Toxicity equivalency quantity (TEQ) contributed by PBDD/Fs counted up to 15% of the total dioxin TEQ of five analyzed persistent organic pollutants (POPs) (Jogsten et al 2010).…”