Preliminary Study Of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) And Polychlorinated Biphenyls(PCBs) In Atmosphere Of Guangzhou

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers(PBDEs) are a group of additive flame retardants widely used in commercial and household products. They have been recognized as ubiquitous environmental pollutants due to their similarity in physicochemical properties to a number of other persistent organic pollutants (POPs). In the past of 20 years, in contrast to the decreasing levels of most POPs, PBDEs levels in the environment are increasing. In China, report on PBDEs in atmosphere is blank. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are else a group of all-known environmental pollutants. In China, the studies on PCBs have focused on the sediments and soil, however, research on atmospheric PCBs is nearly blank. Up to now, human exposure assessment to PBDEs has largely focused on the dietary pathway, few studies have examined exposure via inhalation or the other oral conduits such as dust, soil. However, recent studies imply that the pathways via inhalation and home dust intake are important human exposure pathways for PBDEs.This study reported PBDEs and PCBs concentrations, compositions, distributions, gas/particle two phases partitioning in outdoor and indoor air in Guangzhou, moreover, also reported human inhalation exposure for PBDEs and the distributions in different size particles and possible affecting factor.From this study, the following conclusions can be drawn:1. ∑ 10PBDEs concentrations in the atmosphere of Guangzhou(BDE-28, -47, -66, -100, -99, -85, -154, -153, -138, -183) ranged from 40 to 6600 pg/m~3 and were comparative with other cities of the world, however, BDE-209 concentrations (100-15000 pg/m~3) were higher than those cities. The industrial zone was a major emission source for urban PBDEs pollution. BDE-47, -99 and BDE-209 were dominated components in detected ∑ 11PBDEs in indoor and outdoor air, implying that in atmosphere of Guangzhou PBDEs primarily came from deca-BDE and penta-BDE commercial mixtures.2. The study on PBDEs gas/particle phases partitioning indicated: PBDEs appeared to be closer to equilibrium gas/particle phases at urban center than other samplingsites. The predicted values of two models (Junge-Pankow adsorption model and Koa absorption model) were compared with the measured values in the atmosphere of Guangzhou, the results indicated that the Koa absorption model worked better than the Junge-Pankow adsorption model.3f The ￡ ioPBDEs concentrations in indoor environments(home and workplace) of Guangzhou ranged from 120 to 8300 pg/m3 and were comparative with relative foreign studies. For low brominates PBDEs(i.e. -28, -47, -66) indoor air primarily was effected by the indoor emission sources in some indoor environments and by outdoor air in the other. However, those high brominates PBDEs(i.e. -138, -183, -209) predominantly came from infiltration of outdoor particle. In indoor emission sources, electronic/electrical products may be major emission sources, while the contributor from containing-PUF furniture was small. The median ￡ ioPBDEs exposure value for adults was 11.9 ng/day/person, higher than two relative studies.4. From individual PBDE distribution in six different stage size aerosol particles, BDE-47, -66, -100 and -99 were similar each other and primarily distributed in fine particles. The similarity with "saddle" symmetry was between BDE-208 and -207, but their distributions are different from BDE-47, -66, -99, -100. BDE-209 distribution was different from above two kinds of types, primarily distributed in coarse particles. Good linear relationships were found out between TC and BDE-28, -47, -100, -99, while poor correlation coefficients were between BDE-207, -208, -209 and TC, this difference may reflect different manner entering atmosphere or partitioning velocity in gas/particle of individual congener.5. E 64PCBs concentrations in the outdoor air of Guangzhou ranged from 160 to 2720 pg/m3, similar to most of relative studies in north America, Europe and Asia. Compared with ￡ioPBDEs(excluding BDE-209), X64PCBS concentrations were approximately a factor of 2-3 higher than ￡ ioPBDEs excluding sampling site near industrial zone, suggesting urban center and old industrial district were obvious emission sources for PCBs. The tri- and tetra-chlorinated biphenyls were the most abundant homologue groups in this study and consistent with most relative research. However, the individual congener distribution was different from other studies dueto different industrial products used in China.