Occurrence and fate of emerging and legacy flame retardants : from indoor environments to remote areas

Sammanfattning: Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are toxic chemicals that can be found in various matrices in all corners of the planet, including remote areas such as the Arctic.  Several POPs are known and monitored but given the abundance of new chemicals in commerce about which little is known, chemicals that may be new POPs are constantly being screened for. The use of flame retardants, particularly brominated flame retardants (BFRs), has been increasing for decades. PBDEs and HBCDDs are two types of BFRs that have historically been used in large volumes but recently faced legislative restrictions. However, in order to meet fire safety standards, these BFRs have been replaced by a variety of emerging flame retardants (EFRs) about which little is known especially concerning their toxicity, production volumes, and environmental behavior. The main purpose of this thesis was to investigate the occurrence and fate in indoor and outdoor environments of several EFRs and compare them with PBDEs, HBCDDs, and legacy POPs.Several indoor environments in the city of Stockholm, Sweden were sampled for dust, indoor air, and ventilation system air (Paper II).  Results from these samples revealed a number of EFRs that humans are exposed to and that are emitted from buildings through ventilation systems. These included DDC-CO, DBE-DBCH, PBT, HBB, EHTBB, and BEH-TEBP. PBDE levels seem to be declining compared to previous studies in Stockholm.  Outdoor air and soil were sampled across transects of Stockholm (Paper II) and Birmingham, United Kingdom (Paper III).  Results from these samples showed the presence of many of the same EFRs in the outdoor environment that were found in indoor environments.  Urban pulses in air were discovered for PBDEs in both cities and for some EFRs in Stockholm, indicating that the cities are sources of EFRs to the outdoor environment.  Atmospheric deposition samples were taken at two sites in northern Sweden (Paper I).  Three EFRs (DDC-CO, DBE-DBCH, and BTBPE) and two current-use pesticides (trifluralin and chlorothalonil) were identified, indicating these compounds’ potential for long range transport and global contamination.  Other legacy POPs such as HCH, PCBs, and PBDEs were measured in the deposition samples as well.  The bulk of deposition was comprised of HCH and PCBs with only minor contributions from PBDEs, chlordanes, and emerging compounds.  Finally, passive and active air sampling methods were compared for BFRs in offices in Beijing, China.  Some EFRs were identified in indoor air from China; however, BDE-209 was the most predominant compound found (Paper IV).  Air samples collected with passive samplers generally had measured FR concentrations within a factor of 2-3 of those collected with active samplers. The use of a GFF in the passive samplers resulted in concentrations of particle-bound contaminants such as BDE-209 that were more comparable to those in active samples. The positioning of the PUF in the passive samplers affected the sampling rates for gaseous compounds and particle retention on PUFs was shown to be a large source of uncertainty in passive sampling.