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Duan L, Li M, Liu J, Chen W. Soil colloids can significantly enhance spreading of polybromodiphenyl ethers in groundwater by serving as an effective carrier. J Environ Sci (China) 2025; 147:93-100. [PMID: 39003087 DOI: 10.1016/j.jes.2023.09.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2023] [Revised: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2024]
Abstract
Polybromodiphenyl ethers (PBDEs), the widely used flame retardants, are common contaminants in surface soils at e-waste recycling sites. The association of PBDEs with soil colloids has been observed, indicating the potential risk to groundwater due to colloid-facilitated transport. However, the extent to which soil colloids may enhance the spreading of PBDEs in groundwater is largely unknown. Herein, we report the co-transport of decabromodiphenyl ester (BDE-209) and soil colloids in saturated porous media. The colloids released from a soil sample collected at an e-waste recycling site in Tianjin, China, contain high concentration of PBDEs, with BDE-209 being the most abundant conger (320 ± 30 mg/kg). The colloids exhibit relatively high mobility in saturated sand columns, under conditions commonly observed in groundwater environments. Notably, under all the tested conditions (i.e., varying flow velocity, pH, ionic species and ionic strength), the mass of eluted BDE-209 correlates linearly with that of eluted soil colloids, even though the mobility of the colloids varies markedly depending on the specific hydrodynamic and solution chemistry conditions involved. Additionally, the mass of BDE-209 retained in the columns also correlates strongly with the mass of retained colloids. Apparently, the PBDEs remain bound to soil colloids during transport in porous media. Findings in this study indicate that soil colloids may significantly promote the transport of PBDEs in groundwater by serving as an effective carrier. This might be the reason why the highly insoluble and adsorptive PBDEs are found in groundwater at some PBDE-contaminated sites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lin Duan
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Pollution Control, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
| | - Min Li
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Pollution Control, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
| | - Jiameng Liu
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Pollution Control, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
| | - Wei Chen
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Pollution Control, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China.
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Leri AC, Hettithanthri O, Bolan S, Zhang T, Unrine J, Myneni S, Nachman DR, Tran HT, Phillips AJ, Hou D, Wang Y, Vithanage M, Padhye LP, Jasemi Zad T, Heitz A, Siddique KHM, Wang H, Rinklebe J, Kirkham MB, Bolan N. Bromine contamination and risk management in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2024; 469:133881. [PMID: 38422740 PMCID: PMC11380803 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.133881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2023] [Revised: 01/18/2024] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
Bromine (Br) is widely distributed through the lithosphere and hydrosphere, and its chemistry in the environment is affected by natural processes and anthropogenic activities. While the chemistry of Br in the atmosphere has been comprehensively explored, there has never been an overview of the chemistry of Br in soil and aquatic systems. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the sources, geochemistry, health and environmental threats, remediation approaches, and regulatory guidelines pertaining to Br pollution in terrestrial and aquatic environments. Volcanic eruptions, geothermal streams, and seawater are the major natural sources of Br. In soils and sediments, Br undergoes natural cycling between organic and inorganic forms, with bromination reactions occurring both abiotically and through microbial activity. For organisms, Br is a non-essential element; it is passively taken up by plant roots in the form of the Br- anion. Elevated Br- levels can limit plant growth on coastal soils of arid and semi-arid environments. Br is used in the chemical industry to manufacture pesticides, flame retardants, pharmaceuticals, and other products. Anthropogenic sources of organobromine contaminants in the environment are primarily wastewater treatment, fumigants, and flame retardants. When aqueous Br- reacts with oxidants in water treatment plants, it can generate brominated disinfection by-products (DBPs), and exposure to DBPs is linked to adverse human health effects including increased cancer risk. Br- can be removed from aquatic systems using adsorbents, and amelioration of soils containing excess Br- can be achieved by leaching, adding various amendments, or phytoremediation. Developing cost-effective methods for Br- removal from wastewater would help address the problem of toxic brominated DBPs. Other anthropogenic organobromines, such as polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants, are persistent, toxic, and bioaccumulative, posing a challenge in environmental remediation. Future research directives for managing Br pollution sustainably in various environmental settings are suggested here.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandra C Leri
- Department of Natural Sciences, Marymount Manhattan College, 221 E 71st St., New York, NY 10021, United States.
| | - Oshadi Hettithanthri
- Ecosphere Resilience Research Centre, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda, 10250, Sri Lanka
| | - Shiv Bolan
- UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia 6009, Australia; The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia 6009, Australia; Healthy Environments And Lives (HEAL) National Research Network, Canberra, Australia
| | - Tao Zhang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Farmland Soil Pollution Prevention-Control and Remediation, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, People's Republic of China
| | - Jason Unrine
- Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546, United States; Kentucky Water Research Institute, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, United States
| | - Satish Myneni
- Department of Geosciences, Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ 08544, United States
| | - Danielle R Nachman
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, United States
| | - Huu Tuan Tran
- Laboratory of Ecology and Environmental Management, Science and Technology Advanced Institute, Van Lang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam; Faculty of Applied Technology, School of Technology, Van Lang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
| | - Ankur J Phillips
- Department of Microbiology, College of Basic Sciences and Humanities, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand 263145, India
| | - Deyi Hou
- School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China
| | - Yidong Wang
- School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China
| | - Meththika Vithanage
- Ecosphere Resilience Research Centre, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda, 10250, Sri Lanka; UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia 6009, Australia; Sustainability Cluster, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, India
| | - Lokesh P Padhye
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Tahereh Jasemi Zad
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Anna Heitz
- Curtin Water Quality Research Centre, Department of Chemistry, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia
| | - Kadambot H M Siddique
- UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia 6009, Australia; The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia 6009, Australia
| | - Hailong Wang
- Biochar Engineering Technology Research Center of Guangdong Province, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong 528000, People's Republic of China; Key Laboratory of Soil Contamination Bioremediation of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 311300, People's Republic of China
| | - Jörg Rinklebe
- University of Wuppertal, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Institute of Foundation Engineering, Water, and Waste-Management, Laboratory of Soil, and Groundwater-Management, Pauluskirchstraße 7, Wuppertal 42285, Germany
| | - M B Kirkham
- Department of Agronomy, Throckmorton Plant Sciences Center, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, United States
| | - Nanthi Bolan
- UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia 6009, Australia; The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia 6009, Australia; Healthy Environments And Lives (HEAL) National Research Network, Canberra, Australia
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Du X, Li H, Liang J, Wang R, Huang K, Hayat W, Cai L, Tao X, Dang Z, Lu G. Hydrogen-Donor-Controlled Polybrominated Dibenzofuran (PBDF) Formation from Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether (PBDE) Photolysis in Solutions: Competition Mechanisms of Radical-Based Cyclization and Hydrogen Abstraction Reactions. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2023; 57:7777-7788. [PMID: 37115742 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c08003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Polybrominated dibenzofurans (PBDFs) are characteristic dioxin-like products of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) photolysis. In this study, competition mechanisms of radical-based cyclization and hydrogen abstraction reactions are proposed in PBDF formation. Commonly, the ortho C-Br bond dissociation during photolysis generates aryl radicals, which undergo intramolecular cyclization to form PBDFs or hydrogen abstraction with hydrogen donors (such as organic solvents and water) to form lower brominated PBDEs. By using 2,4,4'-tribromodiphenyl ether (BDE-28) as the model reactant, the experimental PBDF formation ratios in various solutions are explained quantitatively by the calculated rate constants of cyclization and hydrogen abstraction reactions using the density functional theory (DFT) method. The solvent effect of pure and mixed solvents on PBDF formation is illustrated successfully. The structure-related hydrogen donation ability for hydrogen abstraction controls the bias of competition reactions and influences PBDF formation. Water resulted to be the most significant generation of PBDFs. Fulvic and humic acid display higher hydrogen donation ability than small-molecule organics due to the partitioning effect in aqueous solution. Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models of the calculated rate constants for 512 cyclization and 319 hydrogen abstraction reactions using 189 PBDEs as the initial reactants in water are established, revealing the high risk of PBDF formation in aqueous solution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaodong Du
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Haoliang Li
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Jiahao Liang
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Rui Wang
- South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Guangzhou 510655, China
| | - Kaibo Huang
- School of Ecology and Environment, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
| | - Waseem Hayat
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Limiao Cai
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Xueqin Tao
- College of Resources and Environment, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou 510225, China
| | - Zhi Dang
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
- The Key Lab of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters, Ministry of Education, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Solid Wastes Pollution Control and Recycling, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Guining Lu
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
- The Key Lab of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters, Ministry of Education, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
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Ma Y, Mao C, Du X, Xie C, Zhou J, Tao X, Dang Z, Lu G. Insight into the application of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers in soil-washing effluent: Selective removal of 4,4'-dibromodiphenyl ether, high adaptivity of material and efficient recovery of eluent. CHEMOSPHERE 2023; 334:138990. [PMID: 37209856 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.138990] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2023] [Revised: 05/04/2023] [Accepted: 05/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Soil washing techniques can effectively remove soil polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), but further removal of PBDEs from washing effluent is disrupted by environmental factors and coexisting organic matter. Hence, this work prepared novel magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIPs) to selectively remove PBDEs in soil washing effluent and recycling surfactants, with Fe3O4 nanoparticles as the magnetic core, methacrylic acid (MAA) as the functional monomer, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as the cross-linker. Later, the prepared MMIPs were applied to adsorb 4,4'-dibromodiphenyl ether (BDE-15) in Triton X-100 soil-washing effluent and characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared spectrometry (FT-IR), nitrogen adsorption and desorption experiments. According to our observations, BDE-15 equilibrium adsorptions on dummy-template magnetic molecularly imprinted adsorbent (D-MMIP, 4-bromo-4'-hydroxyl biphenyl as template) and part-template magnetic molecularly imprinted adsorbent (P-MMIP, toluene as template) were reached within 40 min, and their equilibrium adsorption capacities were 164.54 μmol/g and 145.55 μmol/g, respectively, with imprinted factor α > 2.03, selectivity factor β > 2.14, and selectivity S > 18.05. MMIPs exhibited good adaptability to pH, temperature, and cosolvent. Our Triton X-100 recovery rate reached as high as 99.9%, and MMIPs maintained a more than 95% adsorption capacity after being recycled five times. Our results offer a novel approach to selectively remove PBDEs in soil-washing effluent, with efficient recovery of surfactants and adsorbents in soil-washing effluent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yao Ma
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China; China National Research Center of Testing Techniques for Building Material, China Building Materials Academy, Beijing, 100024, China
| | - Changyu Mao
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Xiaodong Du
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Chunsheng Xie
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Health and Land Resource, Zhaoqing University, Zhaoqing, 526061, China.
| | - Jiangmin Zhou
- College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, 325035, China
| | - Xueqin Tao
- College of Resources and Environment, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, 510225, China
| | - Zhi Dang
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Solid Wastes Pollution Control and Recycling, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Guining Lu
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Solid Wastes Pollution Control and Recycling, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
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