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Occurrence and ecological risk assessment of 16 phthalates in surface water of the mainstream of the Yangtze River, China

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Abstract

Phthalic acid esters (PAEs), a class of typical endocrine disruptors, have received considerable attention due to their widespread applications and adverse effects on biological health. In this study, 30 water samples, along the mainstream of the Yangtze River (YR), were collected from Chongqing (upper stream) to Shanghai (estuary) from May to June in 2019. The total concentrations of 16 targeted PAEs ranged from 0.437 to 20.5 μg/L, with an average of 1.93 μg/L, where dibutyl phthalate (DBP, 0.222–20.2 μg/L), bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP, 0.254–7.03 μg/L), and diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP, 0.0645–0.621 μg/L) were the most abundant PAEs. According to the pollution level in the YR to assess the ecological risk posed by PAEs, the results showed medium risk level of PAEs in the YR, among which DBP and DEHP posed a high ecological risk to aquatic organisms. The optimal solution for DBP and DEHP is found in ten fitting curves. The PNECSSD of them is 2.50 μg/L and 0.34 μg/L, respectively.

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Funding

This research received funding from the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project (Grant No. 2021SHZDZX0100) and State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse Foundation (Grant No. PCRRK20016).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Jia-Nan Ren, Ning-Zheng Zhu, Xiang-Zhou Meng, Kai Li & Jian-Fu Zhao

  2. Jiaxing-Tongji Environmental Research Institute, 1994 Linggongtang Road, Jiaxing, 314051, Zhejiang Province, China

    Jia-Nan Ren, Ning-Zheng Zhu, Xiang-Zhou Meng, Kai Li, Li-Min Jin, Ting-Ting Shang, Fang-Ting Ai & Jian-Fu Zhao

  3. College of Biological & Environmental Science, Zhejiang Wanli University, Ningbo, 315100, China

    Chong-Jing Gao

  4. Ministry of Natural Resources Key Laboratory for Polar Science, Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai, 200136, China

    Ming-Hong Cai

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  1. Jia-Nan Ren
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  2. Ning-Zheng Zhu
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Contributions

Jia-Nan Ren: data analysis, methodology, writing the original draft, editing, visualization, software, and review

Ning-Zheng Zhu: field sampling, methodology, data curation, manuscript submitting, and review and editing

Xiang-Zhou Meng: supervision, review and editing, resources, and funding acquisition

Chong-Jing Gao: review and editing

Kai-Li: review and editing

Lin-Min Jin: methodology

Ting-Ting Shang: methodology

Fang-Ting Ai: field sampling

Minghong Cai: methodology

Jianfu Zhao: resources and funding acquisition

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Correspondence to Ning-Zheng Zhu.

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Highlights

• PAEs were ubiquitous in the YR mainstream, in which DBP, DEHP, and DIBP were three main components.

• The spatial distribution and source of DBEP is firstly presented in large scale of the YR.

• DEHP and DBP posed high ecological risk to aquatic organisms in the YR mainstream.

• The optimal solution of SSD fitting curve for DBP and DEHP is selected.

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Ren, JN., Zhu, NZ., Meng, XZ. et al. Occurrence and ecological risk assessment of 16 phthalates in surface water of the mainstream of the Yangtze River, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 66936–66946 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27203-x

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