Occurrence and distribution characteristics of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) from a closed deca-BDE manufacturing factory in Jiangsu province, China

Abstract

Concentrations and distributions of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were investigated in soils and plants from a closed deca-BDE manufacturing factory to evaluate and discuss their pollution level and distribution characteristics. Eight PBDEs were analyzed in this study. The eight native PBDEs and 13C12-PCB209 (internal standard) were bought from Accustandard Inc. The eight 13C12-labeled PBDEs (isotope internal standard) were obtained from the Cambridge Isotope Laboratories, Inc. Soxhlet was chosen as the sample extraction method. The majority of lipid and pigment were removed by adding concentrated H2SO4 to each extract. Then, the concentrated extracts were further cleaned by multilayer silica gel columns. Finally, the eluants were concentrated to 1 mL. An internal standard was added to the final extract prior to the instrumental analysis. Extracts were determined by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry in electron impact mode with DB-1 column. Concentrations of PBDEs ranged from N.D. to 3.7 × 104 ng g−1 dry weight (dw) with the median concentrations from 0.60 to 1.17 × 104 ng g−1 dw. BDE-209 was the dominant congener in soils. The concentrations of PBDEs in different functional areas followed the order: manufacturing workshop (MW) → warehouse (WH) → administration area (AD). The levels of PBDEs were shown a decreasing tendency with the increase of the soil depth. However, different trends were observed between low-brominated BDE and high-brominated BDE. In plant samples, concentrations of ∑7 PBDEs (BDE-28, -47, -100, -99, -154, -153, -183) ranged from 7.89 to 1087.19 ng g−1 dw, and the concentrations of BDE-209 ranged from 2805.6 to 19,382.9 ng g−1 dw. The pollution level of PBDEs in the closed deca-BDE factory was lower than PBDEs of manufacturing factory, but higher than PBDEs of e-waste site and much higher than PBDEs of urban sites. The environmental risk caused by the residual of PBDE is of concern. This is the first research to study the pollution of PBDEs in soils and plants from a closed deca-BDE factory.