Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers vs Alternate Brominated Flame Retardants and Dechloranes from East Asia to the Arctic-Alternative-SCRCAP

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers vs Alternate Brominated Flame Retardants and Dechloranes from East Asia to the Arctic

German and Chinese researchers have published a study of the occurrence, distribution, and fate of the banned polybrominated diphenyl ethers versus alternate brominated flame retardants and dechloranes from East Asia to the Arctic. The study, published in Environmental Science and Technology, looks at potential sources of the compounds in the marine environment.

Axel Möller *†, Zhiyong Xie †, Minghong Cai *‡,Guangcai Zhong †§

, Peng Huang

, Minggang Cai

, Renate Sturm †, Jianfeng He ‡, and Ralf Ebinghaus†

Department for Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Coastal Research, Helmholtz−Zentrum Geesthacht, Centre for Materials and Coastal Research, Max−Planck−Strasse 1, 21502 Geesthacht, Germany

SOA Key Laboratory for Polar Science, Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai 200136, China

Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, CAS, Yantai 264003, China

Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China

College of Oceanography and Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China

Environ. Sci. Technol., 2011, 45 (16), pp 6793–6799

DOI: 10.1021/es201850n

Publication Date (Web): July 13, 2011

Phone: +49−4152−87−2353. Fax: +49−4152−87−2332. E-mail: axel.moeller@hzg.de (A.M.), Phone: +86−21−58717635. Fax: +86−21−58711663. E-mail: caiminghong@pric.gov.cn (M.C.).

Abstract

Marine boundary layer air and seawater samples taken during a polar expedition cruise from East China Sea to the Arctic were analyzed in order to compare the occurrence, distribution, and fate of the banned polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) with their brominated alternatives as well as the chlorinated Dechloranes. The sum of PBDEs (∑₁₀PBDEs) in the atmosphere ranged from 0.07 to 8.1 pg m^–3 with BDE–209 being the dominating congener and from not detected (n.d.) to 0.6 pg L^–1 in seawater. Alternate brominated flame retardants (BFRs), especially hexabromobenzene (HBB), (2,3–dibromopropyl–2,4,6–tribromophenyl ether (DPTE), pentabromotoluene (PBT), 2–ethylhexyl 2,3,4,5–tetrabromobenzoate (EHTBB), bis–(2–ethylhexyl)–tetrabromophthalate (TBPH), were detected in higher concentrations than PBDEs, even in the high Arctic (0.6 to 15.4 pg m^–3 for sum of alternate BFRs), indicating the change of PBDEs toward alternate BFRs in the environmental predominance. In addition, Dechlorane Plus (DP) as well as Dechlorane 602, 603, and 604 were detected both in the atmosphere and in seawater. The highest concentrations as well as the highest compound variability were observed in East Asian samples suggesting the Asian continent as source of these compounds in the marine environment. The air–seawater exchange indicates strong deposition, especially of alternate BFRs, as well as dry particle–bound deposition of BDE–209 into the ocean.

Source: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es201850n