Occurrence and distribution of organophosphorus flame retardants/plasticizers and synthetic musks in sediments from source water in the Pearl River Delta, China

Abstract

The Pearl River (China) and its tributaries receive discharges of treated/untreated domestic sewage and industrial wastewater throughout the entire drainage basin. The river provides source water for many local inhabitants, and there is great concern over its pollution status. Fifteen sediment samples were collected from source water areas in the Pearl River Delta, and analyzed for the occurrence and distribution of 2 classes of emerging pollutants, organophosphorus flame retardants (OPs) and synthetic musks. In most sediments, 5 polycyclic musks and 2 nitro musks were detected, and galaxolide (1,3,4,6,7,8-hexahydro-4,6,6,7,8,8-hexamethylcyclopenta (g)-2-benzopyran [HHCB]) and tonalide (7-acetyl-1,1,3,4,4,6-hexamethyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalene [AHTN]) were the predominant components, with concentrations of 0.030 to 547 and 4.31 to 439 ng/g, respectively. Seven widely used OPs were found in most sediments, at varying total concentrations from 1.79 to 143 ng/g, with tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBEOP), tris(2-chloro-isopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP), and triphenyl phosphate (TPHP) being the main components. The results indicated that industrial discharge and domestic sewage played important roles for synthetic musk and OP distribution in sediments in the study area. In general, higher levels of OPs and synthetic musks were found in Guangzhou, Foshan, and Dongguan, suggesting a significant impact from industrial discharges and the dense population of these regions. Environ Toxicol Chem 2018;37:975-982. © 2017 SETAC.

Changes in the Surface Water Nitrogen Content in the Upper Hun River Basin, Northeast China

“…Using only stable isotope technology to analyze nitrogen sources may thus not be accurate. Something more stable and more relevant to life such as plasticizers could be used together with a stable nitrogen isotope to identify nitrogen from domestic wastewater [ 28 , 29 ]. Also, during the research, we found that the organic nitrogen content in the water is complex, and determining the composition of organic nitrogen would be one of the next research directions.…”

Determination And Environmental Risk Assessment Of Organophosphorus Flame Retardants In Sediments Of The South China Sea

“…Tributyl phosphate (TBP), TPP, tri-m-cresyl phosphate (m-TCP) and TDCPP are the commonly detected OPFRs in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), which are also chosen as targets in this paper. The concentration of OPFRs in the PRD was as high as 72.6 ng.g −1 dw in sediments with the detection rate of 40% ~ 100% (Zeng et al 2018b). Rivers carry a large amount of land-based water and sediments from the land to the coastal ocean (Gong et al 2019), constituting the main source of OPFRs in the ocean (Lai et al 2015).…”

“…(He et al 2021). The PRD includes the mega city of Guangzhou, the famous electrical/electronic manufacturing base in Dongguang, and the manufacturing area specializing in the production of plastics, textiles and personal protective articles (Zeng et al 2018b). A study shows that the average concentration of Σ 4 OPFRs at all sites in soil in Guangzhou of the PRD region was as high as 97.3 ng.g −1 dw (Cui et al 2017).…”

“…Beijiang River ows through the largest electronic garbage area in the PRD, strongly affected by sediment transport in the coastal area and resulted in a high concentration of OPFRs at site SCS2, SCS5 and SCS13. E-waste is an important source of OPFRs, and the most polluted sample SCS15 was obtained from the coastal area of Guiyu (Zeng et al 2018b). The average concentration of OPFRs in sediments of the Lian River in China is 87741 ng.g −1 dw, which was one of the higher levels reported in the world .…”

“…The SCS is a typical marginal sea of China, with Pearl River being the largest river entering (Zeng et al 2018b). The rapid economic development, industrialization and urbanization along Pearl River have led to the emission of a large number of OPFRs (Chen et al 2020).…”