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Estimation and characterization of unintentionally produced persistent organic pollutant emission from converter steelmaking processes

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Abstract

Unintentionally produced persistent organic pollutants (UP-POPs) including polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) were characterized and quantified in stack gas and fly ash from the second ventilation systems in five typical converters in five different steelmaking plants. The 2378-substituted PCDD/Fs (2378-PCDD/Fs) and dioxin-like PCB (dl-PCBs) toxic equivalents (TEQs) were 1.84–10.3 pg WHO-TEQ Nm−3 in the stack gas and 5.59–87.6 pg WHO-TEQ g−1 in the fly ash, and the PCN TEQs were 0.06–0.56 pg TEQ Nm−3 in the stack gas and 0.03–0.08 pg TEQ g−1 in the fly ash. The concentrations of UP-POPs in the present study were generally lower than those in other metallurgical processes, such as electric arc furnaces, iron ore sintering, and secondary metallurgical processes. Adding scrap metal might increase UP-POP emissions, indicating that raw material composition was a key influence on emissions. HxCDF, HpCDF, OCDF, HpCDD, and OCDD were the dominant PCDD/Fs in the stack gas and fly ash. TeCB and PeCB were dominant in the stack gas, but HxCB provided more to the total PCB concentrations in the fly ash. The lower chlorinated PCNs were dominant in all of the samples. The 2378-PCDD/F, dl-PCB, and PCN emission factors in stack gases from the steelmaking converter processes (per ton of steel produced) were 1.88–2.89, 0.14–0.76, and 229–759 μg t−1, respectively.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21037003, 21321004, and 21007084), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2013 M540151), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences(YSW2013B01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China

    Sumei Li, Minghui Zheng, Wenbin Liu, Guorui Liu, Ke Xiao & Changliang Li

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  1. Sumei Li
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  2. Minghui Zheng
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  3. Wenbin Liu
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  4. Guorui Liu
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  5. Ke Xiao
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  6. Changliang Li
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Correspondence to Minghui Zheng.

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Responsible editor: Constantini Samara

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Li, S., Zheng, M., Liu, W. et al. Estimation and characterization of unintentionally produced persistent organic pollutant emission from converter steelmaking processes. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 7361–7368 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2652-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2652-y

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