TY - JOUR

T1 - Waste water treatment plants as sources of polyfluorinated compounds, polybrominated diphenyl ethers and musk fragrances to ambient air

AU - Weinberg, Ingo

AU - Dreyer, Annekatrin

AU - Ebinghaus, Ralf

PY - 2011/1

Y1 - 2011/1

N2 - To investigate waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) as sources of polyfluorinated compounds (PFCs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and synthetic musk fragrances to the atmosphere, air samples were simultaneously taken at two WWTPs and two reference sites using high volume samplers. Contaminants were accumulated on glass fiber filters and PUF/XAD-2/PUF cartridges, extracted compound-dependent by MTBE/acetone, methanol, or hexane/acetone and detected by GC-MS or HPLC-MS/MS. Total (gas + particle phase) concentrations ranged from 97 to 1004 pg m-3 (neutral PFCs), <MQL to 13 pg m-3 (ionic PFCs), 5781 to 482,163 pg m-3 (musk fragrances) and <1 to 27 pg m-3 (PBDEs) and were usually higher at WWTPs than at corresponding reference sites, revealing that WWTPs can be regarded as sources of musk fragrances, PFCs and probably PBDEs to the atmosphere. Different concentrations at the two WWTPs indicated an influence of WWTP size or waste water origin on emitted contaminant amounts.

AB - To investigate waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) as sources of polyfluorinated compounds (PFCs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and synthetic musk fragrances to the atmosphere, air samples were simultaneously taken at two WWTPs and two reference sites using high volume samplers. Contaminants were accumulated on glass fiber filters and PUF/XAD-2/PUF cartridges, extracted compound-dependent by MTBE/acetone, methanol, or hexane/acetone and detected by GC-MS or HPLC-MS/MS. Total (gas + particle phase) concentrations ranged from 97 to 1004 pg m-3 (neutral PFCs), <MQL to 13 pg m-3 (ionic PFCs), 5781 to 482,163 pg m-3 (musk fragrances) and <1 to 27 pg m-3 (PBDEs) and were usually higher at WWTPs than at corresponding reference sites, revealing that WWTPs can be regarded as sources of musk fragrances, PFCs and probably PBDEs to the atmosphere. Different concentrations at the two WWTPs indicated an influence of WWTP size or waste water origin on emitted contaminant amounts.

KW - Air

KW - PBDE

KW - PFAS

KW - PFC

KW - WWTP

KW - Chemistry

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78349306281&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.envpol.2010.09.023

DO - 10.1016/j.envpol.2010.09.023

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 20951480

AN - SCOPUS:78349306281

VL - 159

SP - 125

EP - 132

JO - Environmental Pollution

JF - Environmental Pollution

SN - 0269-7491

IS - 1

ER -