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Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in the Danjiangkou Reservoir, China: identification of priority PBDE congeners

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Abstract

Although the production of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) has been phased out over the past decade worldwide, they are still potentially hazardous to the environment due to their persistence and toxicity. This study investigated the levels of 55 PBDEs in water and sediments from the Danjiangkou Reservoir, China. The levels of PBDEs were in the range of not detected (ND)–286.67 ng/L in water and ND–236.04 ng/g in sediments. BDE209 was the predominant PBDE congener and constituted 15–50% and 44–68% of the total PBDEs in water and sediments, respectively. Commercial pentaBDE products (70-5DE, DE-71) were the dominant source of tetraBDE, pentaBDE, and hexaBDE, while commercial octaBDE (79-8DE) and decaBDE (102E and 82-0DE) products were the main sources of nonaBDE and decaBDE in water. PBDEs in sediments mainly stemmed from commercial decaBDE products and combustion sources. BDE-209 posed high ecological risks to aquatic organisms and dominated the total ecological risks of PBDEs. No cancer risks and non-cancer risks were observed for PBDEs. A ranking method based on four criteria, i.e., detection frequency, concentration, ecological risk, and health risks, was proposed, and 17 PBDEs were identified as high priority PBDEs for future monitoring and management in the Danjiangkou Reservoir.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This study was funded by the Key Program of the Natural Science Foundation of China (51539001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Heavy Metal Pollution Control and Reutilization, School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, China

    Yaomin Luo, Wanzi Shi & Nan Xu

  2. College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, The Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences, Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Mingtao You, Ruijie Zhang & Weiling Sun

  3. Beijing Key Laboratory of Farmland Soil Pollution Prevention and Remediation, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China

    Si Li

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  1. Yaomin Luo
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  2. Wanzi Shi
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Contributions

Yaomin Luo: investigation, data curation, and writing original draft.

Wanzi Shi: investigation and methodology.

Mingtao You: sampling and investigation.

Ruijie Zhang: sampling and investigation.

Si Li: methodology and validation.

Nan Xu: review and editing..

Weiling Sun: funding acquisition, supervision, review, and editing.

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Correspondence to Weiling Sun.

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Luo, Y., Shi, W., You, M. et al. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in the Danjiangkou Reservoir, China: identification of priority PBDE congeners. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 12587–12596 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11254-5

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