Organophosphorus flame retardants and plasticizers: Sources, occurrence, toxicity and human exposure

Occurrence and distribution of organophosphate triesters and diesters in sludge from sewage treatment plants of Beijing, China

“…Similar level of TCEP has been reported in sewage sludge from Swedish STPs (6.6-110 μg/kg) (Marklund et al, 2005a), whereas the levels of TCPP and TDCP in our study were much lower than those in STPs from Sweden (TCPP: 61-1900; TDCP: 3.3-260; μg/kg) (Marklund et al, 2005a), Germany (TCPP: 1000-20,000 μg/kg) (Bester, 2005), Norway (TCPP: 650-944; TDCP: 110-330 μg/kg) (Green et al, 2008) and Spain (TCPP: 600-2900; TDCP: 92.0-600 μg/kg) Wei et al, 2015). However, concentrations of chlorinated OP triesters in this study were slightly higher than those found in STPs in the south of China (Zeng et al, 2014).…”

“…In addition, some of them are also used as anti-wear additives or extreme pressure agents in hydraulic fluids and lubricants, and non-ionic extractants in hydrometallurgy as well as anti-foaming agents in floor polishing (Reemtsma et al, 2008;Salamova et al, 2014). As the restriction on the application of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), global consumption of OP triesters has increased sharply in recent years (Reemtsma et al, 2008;Wei et al, 2015). The consumption of OP triesters only as flame retardants is approximately 91,000 t in 2006 in Western Europe, which reveals an increase by 7% compared with that in 2005 (Reemtsma et al, 2008).…”

“…According to the data from European Flame Retardants Association (EFRA), China, North America and Western Europe are the highest consumption countries and regions for flame retardants, accounting for approximately 60% of global consumption (EFRA, 2012). According to the reports, the annual yield of organophosphate flame retardants reaches up to 70,000 t in 2007 with the predicted increase by 15% annually in China (Wei et al, 2015).…”

Molecular Firefighting—How Modern Phosphorus Chemistry Can Help Solve the Challenge of Flame Retardancy

“…Most organophosphates are used as additives rather than being chemically bound to the polymer matrix 72. Besides their use as FRs, they work as plasticizers or antifoaming agents and are used in plastics, furniture, textiles, electronics, construction, vehicles, and the petroleum industry.…”

Development and validation of a multi-residue method for the analysis of brominated and organophosphate flame retardants in indoor dust

“…Both BFRs and OPFRs have been detected in various environmental matrices [6,7]. High detection frequencies and high concentrations of both BFRs and OPFRs were reported in indoor dust which is an important route of exposure, especially for children, since their more frequent hand-to-mouth contact and close-to-ground behaviour could lead to higher amount of dust ingestion, and their lower body weigh results in a higher daily exposure [8].…”