Phthalate Esters In Soil Research Articles

Determination of phthalate esters in soil using a quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe method followed by GC-MS.

A quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe procedure was designed to extract pesticide residues from fruits and vegetables with a high percentage of water. It has not been used extensively for the extraction of phthalate esters from sediments, soils, and sludges. In this work, this procedure was combined with gas chromatography with mass spectrometry to determine 16 selected phthalate esters in soil. The extraction efficiency of the samples was improved by ultrasonic extraction and dissolution of the soil samples in ultra-pure water, which promoted the dispersion of the samples. Furthermore, we have simplified the extraction step and reduced the risk of organic solvent contamination by minimizing the use of organic solvents. Different extraction solvents and clean-up adsorbents were compared to optimize the procedure. Dichloromethane/n-hexane (1:1, v/v) and n-hexane/acetone (1:1, v/v) were selected as the extractants from the six extraction solvents tested. C18/primary secondary amine (1:1, m/m) was selected as the sorbent from the five clean-up adsorbents tested. The recoveries from the spiked soils ranged from 70.00 to 117.90% with relative standard deviation values of 0.67-4.62%. The proposed approach was satisfactorily applied for the determination of phthalate esters in 12 contaminated soil samples.

Will spent mushroom substrate application affect the dissipation and plant uptake of phthalate esters?

The objective of this study was to investigate whether spent mushroom substrate (SMS) amendment was an appropriate way to reduce di(2-ehylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP) contents in soil and whether SMS could reduce DnBP accumulation in bok choy (Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis). Microcosm and pot experiments were carried out to study the influence of spent Agaricus bisporus substrate application on DnBP and DEHP dissipation in soils and plant uptake of DnBP. Variations in soil pH and enzyme activities were determined. The concentrations of phthalate esters (PAEs) in soils, bok choy, and atmosphere were examined with gas chromatography or gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Adding sterilized or non-sterilized SMS can increase soil pH and urease activity, and non-sterilized SMS can promote soil laccase activity. The results show that the dissipation of DEHP is accelerated after incubation with SMS for 25 days; however, little effect can be found with continuing incubation due to low DEHP bioavailability. In this research, SMS amendment exhibits no effect on DnBP dissipation in soils and DnBP accumulation in bok choy. It was proposed that atmospheric deposition of DnBP might be the main source of DnBP in bok choy in the study, since equivalent amounts of DnBP were detected in the vegetables grown in soils with or without DnBP spiking. This study indicates that the application of SMS as an organic fertilizer is less likely to affect the fate of PAEs in soils, and proper strategies should be conducted to reduce PAE levels in atmosphere to control PAE contamination in vegetables.

Occurrence, Distribution and Health Risk of the Phthalate Esters in Riparian Soil in the Fluctuating Zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir

Soil samples were collected in the fluctuating zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir to analyze the concentrations and distribution of phthalate esters (PAEs) using ultra performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS). Meanwhile, the interrelationships among the PAE congeners were analyzed and the potential sources of PAEs in soil were determined by the correlation analysis and principal component analysis. The results showed that the concentrations of ∑PAEs ranged from 322.0-737.3 ng·g-1 dry weight, with a mean value of 497.2 ng·g-1 dry weight, which lies at the low end of the worldwide Figures. DIBP was the most abundant PAEs congener, followed by DBP and DEHP, contributing to 94.5% of the total PAEs. However, DEHP was not the main pollutant in this study compared to other studies, which might be ascribed to the release of DEHP from the flooded soil to the surrounding water but the degradation by microorganisms in the soil cannot be completely ruled out. Significant interrelationships were observed among DMP, DEP, DBP, and DIBP. The principal component analysis showed that DMP, DEP, DBP, and DIBP may have similar sources. In this study, the daily intake dose was lower than the reference dose (RfD) proposed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), and the carcinogenic risk of six PAE congeners was far below the tolerable values proposed by the USEPA. Nevertheless, the daily intake dose of DBP accounted for 60% to 84% of total PAEs; thus, more attention should be paid to the potential health risks of DBP.

Contamination of Phthalate Esters in Vegetable Agriculture and Human Cumulative Risk Assessment

Phthalate esters (PAEs), which can disturb human endocrine system, have been widely detected in vegetable greenhouse agriculture in China. To investigate the effects of environmental factors on PAEs in soils, pollution sources were identified, and the cumulative risks of PAEs to humans through vegetables in the diet were evaluated in this study. Ninety-eight vegetable samples were collected from 10 markets along with 128 vegetable and 111 soil samples from agricultural greenhouses and open field. All soil and vegetable samples were contaminated with PAEs, and the total concentrations of the 5 PAEs, including dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), di-iso-butyl phthalate (DiBP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), and di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), were in the ranges of 0.26–2.53 mg kg−1 for soils and 0.95–8.09 mg kg−1 for vegetables. Three components extracted from principle component analysis could explain 51.2%, 19.8%, and 15.3% of the total variance of the 5 PAEs in soils, which may represent three major sources of PAEs, i.e., wastewater irrigation, application of fertilizers and pesticides, and plastic film. Long-term greenhouse cultivation could accumulate DEHP in soils, and a higher soil FeOx content reduced the DnBP concentration. Based on a survey of vegetables in the diet, the hazard index of PAEs was < 0.15 for individuals in different cities. The exposure of PAEs through vegetable intake was higher than the total exposure from other food stuffs, inhalation, and dermal absorption. More attention should be given to controlling PAEs in greenhouse vegetables.

Phthalate esters in soil, plastic film, and vegetable from greenhouse vegetable production bases in Beijing, China: Concentrations, sources, and risk assessment

The increased use of plastic film in greenhouse vegetable production (GVP) could result in phthalate ester (PAE) contamination in vegetables. However, limited information is currently available on their occurrence and associated potential risks in GVP systems. The present study documents the occurrence and composition of 15 PAEs in soil, plastic film, and vegetable samples from eight large-scale GVP bases in Beijing, China. Results showed that PAEs are ubiquitous contaminants in these GVP bases. Total PAE concentrations ranged from 0.14 to 2.13mg/kg (mean 0.99mg/kg) in soils and from 0.15 to 6.94mg/kg (mean 1.49mg/kg) in vegetables. Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, di-n-butyl phthalate, and diisobutyl phthalate were the most abundant components, which accounted for >90% of the total PAEs. This investigation also indicated that the widespread application of plastic film in GVP systems may be the primary source of these PAEs. The non-cancer and carcinogenic risks of target PAEs were estimated based on the exposures of vegetable intake. The hazard quotients of PAE in all vegetable samples were lower than 1 and the carcinogenic risks were also at acceptable levels for consumers. The data in this study can provide valuable information to understand the status of potential pollutants, specifically PAEs, in GVP systems.

Occurence of the phthalate esters in soil and street dust samples from the Novi Sad city area, Serbia, and the influence on the children’s and adults’ exposure

This is the first study reporting the presence of 6 phthalic acid esters (PAEs) in 60 composite soil and street dust samples collected in the urban zone of Novi Sad, the second largest city in Serbia. The results were further used to assess children’s and adults’ PAEs nondietary daily intakes (DIs) through incidental soil and dust ingestion and/or dermal absorption. The study could be regarded as the important baseline for future monitoring of PAEs in the urban environments, particularly as it contributes to the rare data on PAEs occurence in the street dust.All 6 PAEs were detected in every analyzed soil and street dust samples from 0.0002mgkg−1 to 4.82mgkg−1, with the highest level obtained for di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), which was the most dominant PAE (70–96%). The highest total PAEs (Σ6PAEs) contents in soil (2.12mgkg−1) and street dust (5.45mgkg−1) samples were obtained for the samples from city parks. In all soil samples, Σ6PAEs exceeded the soil sustainable quality limit sets by the relevant Serbian Regulation, but were much lower than the limit requiring remediation measures. Concerning the estimated DIs, children were more susceptible to PAEs intake than adults regardless of the exposure routes. All the estimated DIs values were far below the known reference values.

Analysis of phthalate esters in soils near an electronics manufacturing facility and from a non-industrialized area by gas purge microsyringe extraction and gas chromatography

Here, a novel technique is described for the extraction and quantitative determination of six phthalate esters (PAEs) from soils by gas purge microsyringe extraction and gas chromatography. Recovery of PAEs ranged from 81.4% to 120.3%, and the relative standard deviation (n=6) ranged from 5.3% to 10.5%. Soil samples were collected from roadsides, farmlands, residential areas, and non-cultivated areas in a non-industrialized region, and from the same land-use types within 1km of an electronics manufacturing facility (n=142). Total PAEs varied from 2.21 to 157.62mgkg−1 in non-industrialized areas and from 8.63 to 171.64mgkg−1 in the electronics manufacturing area. PAE concentrations in the non-industrialized area were highest in farmland, followed (in decreasing order) by roadsides, residential areas, and non-cultivated soil. In the electronics manufacturing area, PAE concentrations were highest in roadside soils, followed by residential areas, farmland, and non-cultivated soils. Concentrations of dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), and di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP) differed significantly (P<0.01) between the industrial and non-industrialized areas. Principal component analysis indicated that the strongest explanatory factor was related to DMP and DnBP in non-industrialized soils and to butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP) and DMP in soils near the electronics manufacturing facility. Congener-specific analysis confirmed that diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) was a predictive indication both in the non-industrialized area (r2=0.944, P<0.01) and the industrialized area (r2=0.860, P<0.01). The higher PAE contents in soils near the electronics manufacturing facility are of concern, considering the large quantities of electronic wastes generated with ongoing industrialization.

Physiological and Antioxidant Responses of Germinating Mung Bean Seedlings to Phthalate Esters in Soil

Single phytotoxicity of two representative phthalate esters (PAEs), di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP) and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), was tested in mung bean (Vigna radiata) seedlings germinated for 72 h in soils spiked with varying concentrations (0-500 mg kg−1 soil) of DnBP or DEHP. PAEs added at up to 500 mg kg−1 soil exerted no significant effect on germination but both pollutants significantly inhibited root elongation (P < 0.01), DEHP inhibited shoot elongation (P < 0.01) and DnBP depressed biomass on a fresh weight basis (P < 0.05). Seedling shoot and root malondialdehyde (MDA) contents tended to be stimulated by DnBP but inhibited by DEHP. However, increases in superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase activities, as well as glutathione (GSH) content, were induced at higher concentrations (e.g., 20 mg kg−1) of both compounds. Accumulation of proline in both roots and shoots and the storage compounds, such as free amino acids and total soluble sugars, in whole plant was induced under the stress exerted by both PAEs. The general responses of mung bean seedlings indicated higher toxicity of DnBP than DEHP on primary growth, during which root elongation was a more responsive index. MDA and GSH were more sensitive parameters in the roots than in the shoots and they might be recommended as physiologically sensitive parameters to assess the toxicity of PAE compounds in soils in future long-term studies.

Influence of Land Use Types on Levels and Compositions of PAEs in Soils from the Area around Hongze Lake

6 congeners of phthalate esters (PAEs) were analyzed in soils with various land use types from the area around Hongze Lake, the fourth largest freshwater lake in China. The total concentrations of 6 congeners (Σ6PAEs ) were 5.070-2.067, 0.723-2.050, 0.331-1.645, 0.002-0.173 mg kg-1 in surface soil from plastic film greenhouse (PG), conventional vegetable fields (CV), plastic film greenhouse-rice rotated fields (PR), and uncultured land (UL), respectively. DnBP and DEHP were dominant species in PAEs averagely accounted for 46.4% and 47.0% of the Σ6PAEs concentrations in all surface soils. And congener percent composition of PAEs in surface soils from uncultured land was considerably different from cultured soils. Vertical distribution of PAEs in soil profile was influenced by land use type, congener species, and the content of congener in surface soil, etc. However, the amounts of PAEs in surface soil accounted more than 58.5% of total amounts in soils. In addition, no significant relationship was observed between total organic C or pH and the concentrations of PAEs in surface soil. The contents of PAEs in soils from the area around Hongze Lake were related with land use types, especially with the use of plastic film. And the general contamination level in soil was comparable or lower than those present in other areas. According to our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the present status of PAEs in soils from the area around Hongze Lake

Empirical estimation of pollution load and contamination levels of phthalate esters in agricultural soils from plastic film mulching in China

Pollution load and contamination levels of phthalate esters (PAEs) in agricultural soils throughout China were studied in this work. The usage amount and residual rates of plastic film were the main factors explaining the variation among regions and leading to higher pollution load and contamination levels in agricultural big provinces. However, higher pollution loads and contamination levels frequently occurred under non-recycling than recycling scenarios during calculation. Extremely high loads (more than 10 kg/ha/year) of PAEs were estimated in five areas including Beijing city, Tibet, Liaoning Province, Jilin Province and Fujian Province and the high contamination levels in agricultural soil were presented in these places with more than 4.0 mg/kg under non-recycling scenarios. The predicted concentrations of PAEs in soils exceed the target value for soils from Netherlands (ΣPAEs = 0.1 mg/kg), indicating very high contamination of most Chinese agricultural soils. Significant differences in estimation results after plastic film utilization suggest that decreasing plastic film residue after application is an effective measure to control PAE pollution in soils. However, the comparison between contamination levels of PAEs estimated by the model and the previous detections of PAEs pollution levels in agricultural soils showed that there were presented wide range of PAE sources indicated to agricultural soils.

Determination of phthalate esters in soil by microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography coupled with accelerated solvent extraction

A novel method using microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography combining accelerated solvent extraction was developed for quantitative analysis of six phthalate esters (PAEs) including dimethyl phthalate, diethyl phthalate, dibutyl phthalate, benzyl butyl phthalate, bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, as well as dioctyl phthalate. The effect of each individual component within the microemulsions, i.e. oil phase, surfactant and co-surfactant on resolution of the analytes was systematically studied. Baseline separation of six PAEs was achieved within 26 min by using the microemulsion buffer containing a 60 mmol/L borate buffer at pH 9.0, 0.5% v/v n-octane as oil droplets, 100 mmol/L sodium cholate as surfactant and 5.0% v/v 1-butanol as co-surfactant. The purposed accelerated solvent extraction-microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography method was successfully applied to the determination of trace amount of PAEs in soil samples collected from three different fields in areas of Fujian Province and the contents of dimethyl phthalate, diethyl phthalate, dibutyl phthalate, benzyl butyl phthalate, bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and dioctyl phthalate were 0.63-0.68, 0.32-0.63, 2.53-3.96, 0-1.75, 7.32-11.7 and 0-3.46mg/kg, respectively. It was validated that the results were consistent with those obtained by GC-MS method.

Quality assurance/quality control for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and phthalate esters in soils using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A method for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and phthalate esters (PAEs) in soil samples by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was developed. After extracted by accelerated solvent extraction or ultrasonic extraction by dichloromethane-hexane (1:1, v/v) and dichloromethane-acetone (1:1, v/v), respectively, the extracts were cleaned up by solid phase extraction and/or gel permeation chromatography. Quality control and quality assurance procedures were carried out with the methods of whole procedure blank, blank spike recovery, clean soil matrix spike recovery, and the comparison with reference materials. The method detection limits were 0.13-2.2 microg/kg and 0.19-0.52 microg/kg and the average recoveries were 41.5%-116.9% 90.7%-107.1% for the PAHs and the PAEs, respectively. The results showed that the method can meet the technical requirements on the soil sample test and analysis in the national survey of soil pollution.

Degradation of phthalate esters (PAEs) in soil and the effects of PAEs on soil microcosm activity

AbstractBACKGROUND: Phthalate esters (PAEs), a class of refractory and toxic organic compounds, are becoming one of the most widespread contaminants in the environment. Degradation of PAEs in soil has been investigated, but limited to one or a few kinds of PAEs. Microorganisms could be regarded as a sensitive bio‐indicator for soil contaminants. Therefore, four commonly used PAEs were chosen to investigate their degradation patterns and potential impacts on soil microbial activity with a series of bioassays.RESULT: PAEs in sterile soils changed slightly, while degradation of PAEs in non‐sterile soil followed a single first‐order kinetic. Higher concentrations of PAEs led to lower β‐glucosidase activity and higher protease activity, with smooth changes of phosphatase and urease activities. PAEs decreased average well color development (AWCD), while Shannon index (H) showed a tendency to increase after a decrease. Carbon utilization profile was affected significantly by PAEs, especially at 10 mg kg−1 soil.CONCLUSION: Degradation of PAEs was driven mainly by microbial mediated processes. PAEs affected carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles variously, and had temporal effects on metabolic diversity, owing to the adaptation of microbes. Carbon substrates utilization changed from easily degradable sugars and carboxylic acids to recalcitrant compounds during the simulation. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry

Distribution of Phthalate Esters in Soil of E-Waste Recycling Sites from Taizhou City in China

In recent years, increasing concern has surrounded the consequences of improper electric and electronic waste (e-waste) disposal. In this paper, Phthalate esters (PAEs) including dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and di-n-octyl phthalate (DnOP) in the e-waste soils were collected and analyzed from sites Fengjiang, Nanshan and Meishu in Taizhou city. The result showed that the total PAEs concentrations ranged from 12.566 to 46.669 mg/kg in these three sites. DEHP, DBP and DEP were the major phthalates accounting for more than 94% of total phthalates studied. Comparing to the results from other studies, the e-waste soils from Taizhou city were severely contaminated with PAEs.

The decomposition of phthalate esters in soil

Abstract Factors affecting the decomposition of carboxyl‐labelled (14C) phthalic acid (PA), monobutyl phthalate (MBP), and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) were studied in soil incubation experiments conducted under labortory conditions. A lag phase of 10 to 20 days occurred before soil microbes initiated metabolism of MBP and DBP while PA was rapidly decomposed. Approximately 90% of DBP added to soils at rates of 0.1 to 0.4% was decomposed within 80 days under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Decomposition of DBP was enhanced in soils by increasing soil pH from 5.2 to 7.0, by adding organic matter, and by elevating the temperature from 23°C to 30°C. Varying soil characteristics and the simultaneous addition of ammonium, CaCO3 or sewage sludge had little effect on the rate or extent of DBP degradation. The addition of DBP in sewage sludge or other waste materials to soils should not pose a long‐term persistence problem.

Uptake and Fate of Di-2-Ethylhexyl Phthalate in Aquatic Organisms and in a Model Ecosystem

Uptake and Fate of Di-2-Ethylhexyl Phthalate in Aquatic Organisms and in a Model Ecosystem