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Levels, compositions, and inventory of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in sewage sludge of Guangdong Province, South China

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Abstract

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were measured in sewage sludge samples collected from major wastewater treatment plants in Guangdong Province, South China. Concentrations of ∑39PBDE (all 39 compounds including tri- to hepta- PBDE congeners except for BDE-209) ranged from 3.6 to 428 ng/g dw with a mean value of 67.4 ng/g dw and a median value of 25.9 ng/g dw, and those of BDE-209 ranged from 9.9 to 5,010 ng/g dw (mean 1,024 ng/g dw and median 824 ng/g dw). The PBDE mixtures detected were mainly comprised of penta-, octa-, and deca-BDEs, with deca-BDE as the dominant constituent. The most abundant congeners, excluding BDE-209, were BDE-47, BDE-99, and BDE-183. Good correlations were found among the concentrations of BDE-47, BDE-99, BDE-100, BDE-138, and BDE-154 (r > 0.8). However, poor correlations were found between the concentrations of BDE-209 and all other congeners (r < 0.3). This fact suggests that most tri- to hepta-BDEs detected did not originate from decomposition of deca-BDE. The estimated annual emission of ∑allPBDEs, ∑39PBDEs, penta-BDE, octa-BDE, and deca-BDE to the Pearl River Delta environment (PRD), based on the sludge samples analyzed, amounts to 232, 20.2, 5.5, 1.7, and 212 kg per year, implicating sewage sludge as a significant source of PBDEs to the PRD environment.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a key project of NNSFC-Guangdong (U1201235), a general project and a “Team Project” of National Natural Science Foundation of China (40972222 and 41121063), and GIGCAS 135 project (Y234081001). This is contribution No. IS-1680 from GIGCAS. The comments by three anonymous reviewers greatly improved the quality of the manuscript and are highly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Yong Ran, Juan Yang, Yejun Liu, Xianying Zeng & Eddy Y. Zeng

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Juan Yang & Yejun Liu

  3. Construction and Environmental Administration Bureau, Guangzhou Development Zone 510530, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Hongyan Gui

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  1. Yong Ran
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  3. Yejun Liu
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Correspondence to Yong Ran.

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Ran, Y., Yang, J., Liu, Y. et al. Levels, compositions, and inventory of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in sewage sludge of Guangdong Province, South China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 20, 8780–8789 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-1834-3

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