Global emissions of Dechlorane Plus

Abstract

Dechlorane Plus (DP) is a chlorinated flame retardant applied in parallel to or as a replacement product for regulated flame retardants. Detection of DP in environmental media all over the world in recent years necessitates the development of detailed global emission estimates for environmental model studies. Based on production, usage and disposal data two global atmospheric emission scenarios were made with a detailed geographical distribution. The total DP emission is estimated to be 0.02 t/year and 3.2 t/year in a low and high emission scenario, respectively, reflecting the uncertainties in production volumes and emission factors. The emission estimates are tested by implementation in the Danish Eulerian Hemispheric Model, an advanced chemistry-transport model. An evaluation against measurements in the Arctic from the early 2010s, considered to represent background concentrations, shows that the predicted concentration range for the high emission scenario is in line with the measured range, whereas the predicted concentrations for the low emission estimate are more than a factor of 100 lower than the measurements, rendering the high emission estimate most probable.