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Model for photodegradation of polybrominated diphenyl ethers

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 22, pages 4949–4963 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) were, and in some countries still are, used as flame retardants for plastic materials. When released from plastics, PDBE cause harm to the environment. This creates the incentive for further investigation of the PBDE degradation. This work focused on a formulation of a PBDE photodegradation model based on the PBDE properties obtained by the quantum chemical calculations. The proposed model predicted degradation routes of arbitrary PBDE congener. The routes of selected congeners were validated by the two independently published data sets and showed the high fitting degree. The model can be easily modified for any reactor system if the initial reaction rate constant of one congener is available for the given system.

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Acknowledgments

The work has been carried out in the frame of the Czech Science Foundation project no. 104/09/0800. J. Kristal also acknowledges support by the Czech Science Foundation project no. P105/12/0664.

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals, AS CR, v. v. i., Rozvojova 135, 165 02, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    M. Vesely, Z. Vajglova, J. Kristal, R. Ponec & V. Jiricny

  2. Institute of Chemical Technology, Technicka 5, 166 28, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    M. Vesely

  3. Global Change Research Centre, AS CR, v. v. i., Branisovska 31, 375 05, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic

    P. Kotas

  4. Department of Ecosystem Biology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branisovska 31, 370 05, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic

    P. Kotas

Authors
  1. M. Vesely
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  2. Z. Vajglova
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  3. P. Kotas
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  4. J. Kristal
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  5. R. Ponec
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  6. V. Jiricny
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. Kristal.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

Appendix

Appendix

Table 5 Specific reaction rate constants for all PBDE congeners
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Table 6 Values of ΔH 0f for all PBDE congeners
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Vesely, M., Vajglova, Z., Kotas, P. et al. Model for photodegradation of polybrominated diphenyl ethers. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 4949–4963 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3741-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3741-7

Keywords

  • Polybrominated diphenyl ethers
  • Photodegradation model
  • Quantum chemical calculation