State Key Joint Laboratory for Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering and Center for Environment and Health, Peking University , Beijing 100871, PR China.
Environ Sci Technol. 2013 Aug 6;47(15):8123-9. doi: 10.1021/es402193r. Epub 2013 Jul 18.
Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are important pollutants, yet few data on ambient BFRs levels have been available for North China, one of the most developed regions of the country. In this study, we investigated levels and spatial distributions of BFRs based on gridded field observations coupled with passive air sampling in the aforementioned region. A model incorporating both point and nonpoint sources was developed to simulate the spatial distribution and to achieve source apportionment. Although high concentration was observed at an electronic-waste (e-waste) recycling site, the median level of the sum of tri-, tetra-, hepta-, hexa-, and hepta-PBDEs (∑10PBDEs) was 0.56 ng/sample, which was lower than those observed previously in mainland China. Source apportionment revealed that nonpoint emissions contributed nearly 78% of ∑10PBDEs observed in this study. In contrast, high levels of BDE-209 and DBDPE were observed, with median concentrations of 4.0 and 10.2 ng/sample, respectively. Point sources located in the region around Laizhou Bay, Shandong Province were the major sources, which contributed 31% of BDE-209 and 70% of DBDPE observed in this study, indicating that this manufacturing base was the most important source region for atmospheric deca-BFRs in North China. To our knowledge, this is the first study to report source apportionment of atmospheric BFRs based on gridded field observations.
溴系阻燃剂（BFRs），如多溴联苯醚（PBDEs），是一种重要的污染物，但中国北方（中国最发达的地区之一）有关环境 BFRs 水平的数据却很少。在本研究中，我们结合上述地区的网格化实地观测和被动式空气采样，调查了 BFRs 的水平和空间分布。开发了一个包含点源和非点源的模型，以模拟空间分布并实现源解析。尽管在电子废物（e-waste）回收站点观察到高浓度，但三、四、七、六和七溴联苯醚总和（∑10PBDEs）的中位数水平为 0.56ng/样品，低于中国大陆以前观察到的水平。源解析表明，非点源排放对本研究中观察到的∑10PBDEs 的贡献近 78%。相比之下，BDE-209 和 DBDPE 的水平较高，中位数浓度分别为 4.0 和 10.2ng/样品。位于山东省莱州湾附近的点源是主要来源，对本研究中观察到的 BDE-209 和 DBDPE 的贡献分别为 31%和 70%，表明该制造基地是中国北方大气十溴联苯醚的最重要源区。据我们所知，这是首次基于网格化实地观测报告大气 BFRs 的源解析研究。
