School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Aug 1;780:146543. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146543. Epub 2021 Mar 18.
Identifying the presence of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) within individual polymer types prior to extrusion has given us a unique perspective on which polymers may be problematic in meeting European Union (EU) low persistent organic pollutant (POP) content limits (LPCLs) and the potential for mixed engineering plastics (MEP) to be used as a viable recycled product. Our findings suggest that careful management of the polymer types within the feed chips prior to extrusion could deliver extruded polymer pellets that meet the EU LPCL values for POP-BFRs (i.e. <1000 mg/kg). Within this study, three fractions of extruded polymer pellets ("light", "medium", and "heavy" MEP) were created using density separation. Each fraction was characterised for 28 legacy and novel BFRs with brominated diphenyl ether-209 (BDE-209) (68-37,000 mg/kg) and tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBP-A) (17-120,000 mg/kg) both predominant and ubiquitous. Portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was utilised to measure Br in 120 individual MEP chips of various polymer types. Those chips that XRF flagged as having high Br concentrations (>2500 mg/kg) were subjected to further evaluation for BFR content via mass spectrometry analysis and the results compared with the XRF Br data. This revealed that in 22% of the 120 chips studied, XRF incorrectly identified the LPCL to be exceeded. Our data also identifies the presence of the novel BFRs decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) and 1,2-bis(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy) ethane (BTBPE) in plastics derived from waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE). While the "light-MEP" samples contained POP-BFR concentrations below LPCLs, the "medium-MEP" and "heavy-MEP" fractions exceeded such limits. Management of the polymer chips by colour sorting resulted in significant reductions in concentrations of all BFRs in the clear polymers such that LPCL limits were not exceeded; however, concentration reductions in white polymers were insufficient to meet LPCLs.
在挤出之前识别单个聚合物类型中是否存在溴化阻燃剂 (BFRs)，使我们能够独特地了解哪些聚合物在满足欧盟 (EU) 低持久性有机污染物 (POP) 含量限值 (LPCLs) 方面可能存在问题，以及混合工程塑料 (MEP) 用作可行的回收产品的潜力。我们的研究结果表明，在挤出前对进料芯片中的聚合物类型进行仔细管理，可以生产出符合欧盟 POP-BFRs LPCL 值 (<1000 mg/kg) 的挤出聚合物颗粒。在这项研究中，使用密度分离法创建了三种挤出聚合物颗粒 ("轻"、"中"和"重"MEP) 。对每种馏分进行了 28 种新型和传统 BFRs 的特征分析，其中溴化二苯醚-209 (BDE-209) (68-37000 mg/kg) 和四溴双酚-A (TBBP-A) (17-120000 mg/kg) 均占主导地位且普遍存在。便携式 X 射线荧光 (XRF) 用于测量各种聚合物类型的 120 个 MEP 芯片中的 Br。那些 XRF 标记为 Br 浓度高 (>2500 mg/kg) 的芯片通过质谱分析进一步评估 BFR 含量，并将结果与 XRF Br 数据进行比较。这表明在研究的 120 个芯片中，有 22%的芯片 XRF 错误地识别出超出 LPCL。我们的数据还确定了新型 BFRs 十溴二苯乙烷 (DBDPE) 和 1,2-双(2,4,6-三溴苯氧基)乙烷 (BTBPE) 存在于源自废弃电子和电气设备 (WEEE) 的塑料中。虽然“轻 MEP”样品中的 POP-BFR 浓度低于 LPCL，但“中 MEP”和“重 MEP”馏分则超过了这些限值。通过颜色分类对聚合物芯片进行管理，导致透明聚合物中所有 BFR 的浓度显著降低，从而未超过 LPCL 限值；然而，白色聚合物中的浓度降低不足以满足 LPCLs。
