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Distribution and temporal trend of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in one Shanghai municipal landfill, China

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Abstract

The scarcity of information on polybrominated diphenyl ethers’ (PBDEs) flow in landfill restricts the life cycle analysis of PBDEs. In this study, eight PBDE congeners (BDEs 28, 47, 99, 100, 153, 154, 183, and 209) in topsoil, vegetation leaves, leachate, and municipal aged refuse collected from Shanghai Laogang Municipal Landfill (SLML) were investigated. The present study revealed elevated PBDE concentrations in topsoil and proved PBDE leakage from SLML and vegetation uptake. BDE-209 was the predominant congener, and this could be due to massive usage of deca-BDE mixture in Shanghai. ΣPBDE concentrations in leachates treated by reed wetland and A2/O process fell in the low end of the worldwide range. ΣPBDE concentrations in aged refuse samples rose from under 50 ng/g dw in 1989 to the range of 5,150–5,718 ng/g dw in 2002. PBDE concentrations increase in aged refuse samples throughout the 1990s into the 2000s paralleled municipal solid waste output from 1991 to 2002 in Shanghai. Exponential increase in BDE-209 concentration in aged refuse suggested the increasing market demands for deca-BDE mixture after 1990 in China. Notably, the inventory of PBDEs in SLML was 28.7 MT, and the doubling time of BDE-209 in aged refuse was calculated to be 1.6 year. SLML can be considered as a source of PBDE and one main recipient of PBDE as well, receiving inputs predominantly from the PBDE-containing waste. Priority should be given to formulate regulation on PBDEs and sorting work before landfill disposal.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge MeiLan Zhang from Shanghai Laogang Waste Disposal Co., Ltd. for providing sampling help. This study was financially supported by the National Environmental Protection Public Welfare Science and Technology Research Program of China (no. 200909089); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 20677015, 40901148, 41001316).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology/State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Risk Assessment and Control on Chemical Process, Shanghai, 200237, China

    Kai Huang, Jie Guo, Kuang-fei Lin, Xiao-yu Zhou, Jun-xia Wang, Peng Zhou & Feng Xu

  2. Shanghai Laogang Waste Disposal Co., Ltd., NanBin Rd., Shanghai, 201302, China

    Mei-Lan Zhang

  3. State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Risk Assessment and Control on Chemical Process, School of Resource and Environmental Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, No.130, Mei Long Road, Shanghai, 200237, China

    Jie Guo

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  1. Kai Huang
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  2. Jie Guo
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Correspondence to Jie Guo.

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Huang, K., Guo, J., Lin, Kf. et al. Distribution and temporal trend of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in one Shanghai municipal landfill, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 20, 5299–5308 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-1489-0

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