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Occurrence and fate of PBDEs and novel brominated flame retardants in a wastewater treatment plant in Harbin, China

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Abstract

Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) is considered to be an important medium for the transport and transformation of organic pollutants. This study attempted to comprehensively investigate polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) in a WWTP in Harbin, one of the main “Old Industrial Base” in China. The mean concentrations of the total PBDEs in the influent, effluent, and sludge were 152 ng/L, 16.2 ng/L, and 503 g/g dw, respectively, which were at the low end of the global range. BDE-209 was the most abundant congener, with contributions to the total PBDE ranging from 90.5 to 98.5 %. The level of the total NBFRs ranged from 24.5 to 107 ng/L, 0.95 to 20.3 ng/L, and 305 to 1202 ng/g dw in the influent, effluent, and sludge, respectively. For NBFRs, DBDPE was the most abundant congener (38.8–50.5 %), followed by BEHTBP (11.0–35.0 %). The ratio for DBDPE/BDE-209 (0.62 ± 0.42) was found less than 1 in sludge, which indicated that Deca-BDE is still the major BFR product in this city. Source identification suggested that indoor dust should be an important source of BFRs in the WWTP. Approximately 20.8 and 7.79 kg of PBDEs and NBFRs on annual basis were removed with the sludge. Biodegradation could play an important role on the fate of BFRs in the WWTP, which is required for future research.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21107020). This study was also supported by the State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology (No. 2015TS05), and the Assisted Project by Heilong Jiang Postdoctoral Funds for Scientific Research Initiation (No. LBH-Q15047).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS), State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, 73 Huanghe Road, Nangang District, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150090, China

    Bo Li, Shao-Jing Sun, Chun-Yan Huo, Wen-Long Li, Ning-Zheng Zhu, Hong Qi, Yi-Fan Li & Wan-Li Ma

  2. School of Environmental Science, Liaoning University, Shenyang, 110036, China

    Chun-Yan Huo

  3. Wudalianchi Environmental Monitoring Station, Heilongjiang, 164155, China

    Ling-Jun Kong

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  1. Bo Li
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Correspondence to Hong Qi or Wan-Li Ma.

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Li, B., Sun, SJ., Huo, CY. et al. Occurrence and fate of PBDEs and novel brominated flame retardants in a wastewater treatment plant in Harbin, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 19246–19256 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7142-y

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