Abstract
In 2009, the first Italian offshore LNG terminal, located approximately 12 km from the coast of Italy in the Northern Adriatic Sea, started its operation phase. Even if the active chlorine concentration in the discharged seawater is within limits set by Italian regulations (0.2 mg/L), to verify the environmental impact of disinfection by-products (DBPs) on the ecosystem, a specific monitoring program was scheduled from 2010 to 2015. The present study is the first displaying results of DBPs in marine waters of the Adriatic Sea. During the first two years of monitoring activities, DBPs were slightly above limit of quantifications (LOQs) in all investigated matrices and limited to the nearest area around the terminal. In these surveys, bromoform was the most frequently detected compound in seawaters, while haloacetic acid presence, as well as transplanted mussels and fish fauna, mostly characterized sediments. In the following surveys, levels were mostly negligible in all matrices investigated, with values mostly below the specific LOQs of the different compounds.
Highlights
The regasification liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals play a strategic role for supplying gas [1]
Concentrations of volatile disinfection byproducts (VDbPs) in seawater samples resulted almost all below limit of quantifications (LOQs), except for bromodichloromethane (0.051–0.053 μg/L, LOQ 0.010 μg/L), in both superficial and intermediate samples, collected in 2012 at 10 m and 50 m south of the terminal, dibromochloromethane (0.020 μg/L, LOQ 0.010 μg/L) in superficial water samples collected in and 2012, at 10 m south of the terminal, and bromoform (Figure 5) mostly at closer southern sites to the terminal from 10 to 20 m in 2011 and up to 100 m in 2012
haloacetic acids (HAAs) were detected at one deep sample, collected 100 m from the terminal in 2011 (MCAA 8.6 μg/L, LOQ 3.0 μg/L, MBAA 4.1 μg/L, LOQ 1.0 μg/L, Dalapon 1.1 μg/L, LOQ 1.0 μg/L, DBAA 0.8 μg/L, LOQ 0.5 μg/L), and at two superficial samples, the first collected 10 m away in 2011 (DBAA 2.1 μg/L, LOQ 0.5 μg/L), and the latter 100 m away in
Summary
The regasification liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals play a strategic role for supplying gas [1]. The use of chlorine for the chlorination of water is one of the anthropogenic sources of some halo-compounds in seawater [2], since chlorine residues could give rise to chlorinated disinfection by-products (DBPs), which are chlorinated organic substances dangerous for ecosystems. In this context, among chlorinated DBPs, the predominant are volatile disinfection byproducts (VDbPs), haloacetic acids (HAAs), and halophenols (HAPhs). There are different sources of halo-compounds in seawater, both anthropogenic and natural [3]
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