Determination of legacy and novel brominated flame retardants in dust from end of life office equipment and furniture from Pretoria, South Africa

作者：Nkabinde Sylvia N; Okonkwo Jonathan O; Olukunle Olubiyi I; Daso Adegbenro P

来源：Science of the Total Environment, 2018, 622: 275-281.

DOI：10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.294

• Br
• XRF
• T-HBCDD
• PBDEs
• NBFRs
• GC-MS

Indoor dust is known to be a source of human exposure to brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and these consists of the legacy polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), total hexabromocyclododecane (T-HBCDD) and the "Novel or alternate" Brominated flame retardants (NBFRs). In this study, x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyser was employed to measure elemental bromine contents in office furniture and electronics as the first indication of the possible presence of BFRs. To investigate the possible BFRs present, a total of 21 dust samples were collected from surfaces of electronic equipment and office furniture and were analysed using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The concentrations of S7 BDE-congeners ranged from 50 to 3346 ng ng(-1). Of the S7 BDE congeners analysed, BDE-209, -183 and -99 were the most dominant congeners. The concentrations observed ranged from < LOD -1758, < LOD -401 and < LOD-543 ng g(-1), for BDE-209, -183 and -99, respectively. T-HBCDD and 2-ethyl-1-hexyl-2.3.4.5-tetrabromobenzoate (EH-TBB) were detected in 57 and 67% of the total dust samples analysed with concentrations ranging from < LOD - 673 and < LOD -385 ng g(-1), respectively. However, Bis (2-ethylhexyl) tetrabromophthalate (BEH-TEBP) was only detected in 24% of the 21 samples exhibiting a concentration range of < LOD - 63 ng g(-1). The detection frequency of 1,2 Bis (2.4.6-tribromophenoxy) ethane (BTBPE) was 81% with concentrations of < LOD-1402 ng g(-1). Alongside the legacy BFRs, NBFRs were the most detected indicating probably increased usage as replacements for the banned commercial PBDEs products namely, penta-, octa-, and deca-BDE mixtures. No correlation was observed between the bromine levels obtained using portable XRF and the BFRs detected using GC- MS ( r=0.0073, p=0.076). The observed trend may be attributed to various factors including the sample matrix analysed and the number of BFRs analysed. The observed trend is consistent with those reported from other studies.

• 出版日期2018-5-1