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Characterization of heavy metals and brominated flame retardants in the indoor and outdoor dust of e-waste workshops: implication for on-site human exposure

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Abstract

Forty-four indoor and outdoor dust samples were collected from e-waste workshops and were analyzed to characterize the heavy metals and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) as well as on-site human exposure. The results showed that the most abundant Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) congener from three sites was deca-BDE, and it was penta-BDE for the other site. A significant and positive association was found between BDE-209 and decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE). The high percentage of nona-BDE indicated the debromination of deca-BDE during e-waste recycling. The ratio comparison of BDE-47 to (BDE-100 + BDE-99) indicated that the outdoor dust went through more physiochemical processes. The enrichment factors for Cu and Pb were high in both the indoor and outdoor samples. Cd significantly exceeded the Chinese soil guideline grade III. The PCA results combined with the enrichment factor (EF) values suggested common sources and behaviours of Cu, Pb and Sb in the indoor dust. Co, Cr, Ni, Zn and Mn in the outdoor samples were more likely affected by crust. Strong correlations were found only for Pb and Sb with polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). The hazard index for on-site human exposure to Pb was at a chronic risk. Despite the low deleterious risk of BFRs, concern should be given to DBDPE; the chronic toxicity of which is not known.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Environmental Protection Public Welfare Science and Technology Research Program of China (No. 201309047), the National Natural Science Foundation of China under (Grant No. 41001316) and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities under (Grant No. WB1214059). We would also appreciate Taizhou Municipal Center for Diseases Control and Prevention for metals analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Risk Assessment and Control on Chemical Process, School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, No. 130, Mei Long Road, Shanghai, 200237, China

    Feng Xu, Yangcheng Liu, Junxia Wang, Gang Zhang, Wei Zhang, Lili Liu & Kuangfei Lin

  2. Taizhou Municipal Center for Diseases Control and Prevention, Taizhou, 317700, China

    Jinfu Wang & Bishu Pan

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  1. Feng Xu
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  2. Yangcheng Liu
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  3. Junxia Wang
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  4. Gang Zhang
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  5. Wei Zhang
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  7. Jinfu Wang
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Correspondence to Kuangfei Lin.

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Xu, F., Liu, Y., Wang, J. et al. Characterization of heavy metals and brominated flame retardants in the indoor and outdoor dust of e-waste workshops: implication for on-site human exposure. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 5469–5480 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3773-z

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