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Occurrence and partitioning of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in indoor air and dust: a 15-month case study in a test home

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Abstract

Ten polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and 16 novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) were measured in air and dust samples collected in a test home in Harbin, China, from January 2017 to June 2018. The PBDE and NBFR concentrations in indoor air were in the ranges of 0.598–14.5 pg m−3 and 9.28–686 pg m−3, respectively. The ranges of the PBDE and NBFR concentrations in indoor dust were 221–1060 ng g−1 and 71.9–1160 ng g−1, respectively. Brominated flame retardant (BFR) concentrations in indoor air were affected by the temperature, relative humidity (RH), and ventilation. The BFR concentrations in indoor dust did not show temperature dependence. All dust samples were sieved into 6 size fractions (F1–F6: 1000–2000 μm, 500–1000 μm, 250–500 μm, 125–250 μm, 63–125 μm, and < 63 μm). The mass percentage of BFRs in F6 was the highest. The BFR concentrations did not increase constantly with a particle size decrease, and the concentrations in F2 were higher than those in F3. The partitioning behavior of BFRs illustrates that the dust-air partitioning coefficient approximately approached equilibrium within F5, F6, and the total dust fraction (FA) in the test home when logKOA was between 9.1 and 11.32. Air-dust fugacity fractions were calculated, and the results suggested that most of the BFRs were mainly transferred from air to dust in the indoor environment for F1–F6.

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Funding

This work was supported by State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment (Harbin Institute of Technology) (No. 2016TS04).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS), State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, and School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China

    Jia-Qi Guo, Li-Yan Liu, Chun-Yan Huo, Yu Sun, Wan-li Ma, Zi-feng Zhang & Yi-Fan Li

  2. International Joint Research Center for Arctic Environment and Ecosystem (IJRC-AEE), Polar Academy, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China

    Jia-Qi Guo, Li-Yan Liu, Chun-Yan Huo, Yu Sun, Wan-li Ma, Zi-feng Zhang & Yi-Fan Li

  3. University Corporation for Polar Research, Beijing, 100875, China

    Jia-Qi Guo, Li-Yan Liu, Chun-Yan Huo, Yu Sun, Wan-li Ma, Zi-feng Zhang & Yi-Fan Li

  4. School of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150060, China

    Yong-feng Li

  5. IJRC-PTS-NA, Toronto, M2N 6X9, Canada

    Yi-Fan Li

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  1. Jia-Qi Guo
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Guo, JQ., Li, Yf., Liu, LY. et al. Occurrence and partitioning of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in indoor air and dust: a 15-month case study in a test home. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 35126–35136 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09788-9

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