Atmospheric occurrences and bioavailability health risk of PAHs and their derivatives surrounding a non-ferrous metal smelting plant.

Non-ferrous metal smelting emits large amounts of organic compounds into the atmosphere. Herein, 20 parent polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PPAHs), 9 nitrated PAHs (NPAHs), 14 chlorinated PAHs (ClPAHs), and 6 alkylated PAHs (APAHs) in atmospheric samples from a typical non-ferrous metal smelting plant (NMSP) and residential areas were detected. In NMSP, benzo[a]pyrene, dibenz[a,h]anthracene, 6-nitrochrysene, 9-chlorofluorene, and 1-methylfluorene were the predominant compounds in the particulate phase, while phenanthrene constituted 57.3% in the gaseous phase. The concentration of PAHs in residential areas around NMSP was 1.8 times higher than that in the control area. Additionally, there was a significant negative correlation between the concentration and the distance from the NMSP. In terms of health risks, although the skin penetration coefficient of PM2.5 is smaller than that of the gaseous phase, dermal absorption of PM2.5 posed a greater threat to the population, the incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) of NMSP was 1.8 × 10-4. After considering bioavailability, BILCR decreased by 1-2 orders of magnitude in different regions, and dermal absorption decreased more than inhalation intake. Nevertheless, the dermal absorption of PM2.5 in NMSP still presents a probable carcinogenic risk. This study provides a necessary reference for the subsequent control of NMSP contamination.

The evolution of pollution profile and health risk assessment for three groups SVOCs pollutants along with Beijiang River, China.

Three important groups of semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organic chlorinated pesticides (OCPs) and phthalate esters (PAEs), were produced by various human activities and entered the water body. In this study, the pollution profiles of three species including 16 PAHs, 20 OCPs and 15 PAEs in water along the Beijiang River, China were investigated. The concentrations of Σ16PAHs in the dissolved and particulate phases were obtained as 69-1.5 × 102 ng L-1 and 2.3 × 103-8.6 × 104 ng g-1, respectively. The levels of Σ20OCPs were 23-66 ng L-1 (dissolved phase) and 19-1.7 × 103 ng g-1 (particulate phase). Nevertheless, higher levels of PAEs were found both in the dissolved and particulate phases due to abuse use of plastic products. Furthermore, non-cancer and cancer risks caused by these SVOCs through the ingestion absorption and dermal absorption were also assessed. There was no non-cancer risk existed through two kinds of exposure of them at current levels, whereas certain cancer risk existed through dermal absorption of PAHs in the particulate phase in some sampling sites. The results will show scientific insights into the evaluation of the status of combined pollution in river basins, and the determination of strategies for incident control and pollutant remediation.

Emission patterns and risk assessment of polybrominated diphenyl ethers and bromophenols in water and sediments from the Beijiang River, South China.

To reveal the emission patterns of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in the Beijiang River, South China, concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and phenolic BFRs (2,4,6-tribromophenol (TBP), pentabromophenol (PeBP), tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA)), and bisphenol A (BPA) in water and sediments were simultaneously measured, and the geographic information system (GIS) were applied to analyse their emission patterns. Results showed that PBDEs, TBP, PeBP, TBBPA and BPA were ubiquitous in the water and sediment samples collected from the Beijiang River. However, most of the concentrations were very low or below the detection limits (DL). In water, Σ20PBDEs (sum of all 20 PBDEs congeners) levels ranged from < DL to 232 pg L-1, with the predominant congeners containing low bromine contents. The levels of TBP, PeBP, TBBPA and BPA in water were lower than 810 pg L-1. In sediments, Σ20PBDEs varied from 260 to 5640 pg g-1 dry weight (d.w.), with the predominant congeners containing high bromine contents. The levels of TBP, PeBP, TBBPA and BPA were lower than 600 pg g-1 d.w.. Risk assessments indicated that the water and sediments at the sampling locations imposed no estrogenic risk (E2EQ < 1.0 ng E2 L-1), and the eco-toxicity assessment at three trophic levels also showed no risk at all sampling sites in water (RQTotal < 1.0), but with a potential eco-toxicity at some sampling points in sediments (1.0

Development of methodology for the determination of carbon isotope ratios using gas chromatography/combustion/isotope ratio mass spectrometry and applications in the biodegradation of phenolic brominated flame retardants and their degradation products.

RATIONALE: Compound-specific stable carbon isotope analysis of phenolic brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and bisphenol A (BPA) has proven informative to discriminate their source and fate apportionment in the environment. However, because these compounds contain highly polar functional groups and exist as complex mixtures in environment matrices, derivatization is a necessary step, which adds additional non-analyte carbon atoms for analyses and may alter the original stable carbon isotope ratio. It is, therefore, imperative to gain an insight into the relationship between the δ(13) C values of the BFRs and BPA derivatives and those of underivatized BFRs and BPA. METHODS: The δ(13) C values of BFRs and BPA N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA) derivatives were measured by gas chromatography/combustion/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC/C/IRMS). The δ(13) C values of the BSTFA reagent and the standard underivatized BFRs and BPA were determined using elemental analyzer/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (EA/IRMS). The experimentally obtained δ(13) C values for BFRs and BPA derivatives were then compared with the theoretically calculated values. RESULTS: The derivatization process introduces no isotopic fractionation for BFRs and BPA (the average difference between the theoretically calculated and experimentally obtained δ(13) C values was 0.06 ± 0.15‰, within the precision limits of the GC/C/IRMS measurements). Therefore, the δ(13) C values for the original underivatized BFRs and BPA were computed through a mass balance equation. CONCLUSIONS: This work offers a novel tool to research the biotic or abiotic transformation processes of BFRs and BPA in the environment and will offer a perspective for the identification of the environmental source and fate of these organic compounds.

Concurrent degradation of tetrabromobisphenol A by Ochrobactrum sp. T under aerobic condition and estrogenic transition during these processes.

The effect of concurrent degradation of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) by the strain Ochrobactrum sp. T under aerobic condition was investigated. The results demonstrated that four extra energy source-addition systems still followed pseudo-first order kinetics. The addition of ethanol or glucose could promote the biodegradation ability of Ochrobactrum sp. T to TBBPA, and 90.1 percent and 77.5 percent of TBBPA (5mg L(-1)) could be removed with corresponding TBBPA half-lives of 26 and 36h, respectively, after 96h reaction. Comparatively, the degradation efficiency of the sole TBBPA system was only 72.9 percent under the same condition. In contrast, two other co-substrates 2,4,6-tribromophenol (TBP) and bisphenol A (BPA) showed a negative effect on the TBBPA biodegradation, and the degradation efficiencies of TBBPA were achieved as 44.7 percent and 67.4 percent, respectively. For the TBBPA+TBP system, the competitive inhibition for the TBBPA debromination was less than the inhibition of the toxicity to the bacterium. While for the TBBPA+BPA system, the degradation of TBBPA could be promoted at the beginning of the reaction, and was then inhibited slightly with further prolonging of reaction time. This is probably due to the substrates being oxidized, and BPA can consume partial oxygen and provide the electrons during the concurrent biodegradation process. In addition, although higher estrogenic activity could be detected for the debrominated intermediates in TBBPA co-degradation process than the original TBBPA, the estrogenicity of the whole system still decreased finally after 96h degradation.

Biodegradation and detoxification of bisphenol A with one newly-isolated strain Bacillus sp. GZB: kinetics, mechanism and estrogenic transition.

A facultative anaerobic bacterial strain, Bacillus sp. GZB, was isolated and identified to effectively degrade bisphenol A (BPA) under anaerobic and aerobic conditions. Under anaerobic condition, Fe(3+) can be used as an electron acceptor for Bacillus sp. GZB, while 5 mg L(-1) BPA can be fully removed and 51% was mineralized under optimal aerobic conditions. Additionally, seven metabolites were identified by GC-MS, four of which were doubly confirmed by authentic standards (two synthesized) and three of four initial degradation intermediates were also quantified during BPA aerobic degradation. The evolution of 1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethanone showed a similar tendency with estrogenic activity changing during BPA biodegradation course, indicating its potential estrogenicity. The estrogenicity temporary increase first and decline ultimately during BPA degradation revealing the GZB can effectively detoxify BPA as well as its estrogenic intermediates. This was the first study to report a facultative anaerobic strain can degrade BPA with or without of oxygen.