Physical speciation of polychlorinated biphenyls in the aquatic environment

Toxicity of polychlorinated biphenyls in aquatic environments - A review

The assessment of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and their congeners resulting from the pollution of all environmental media is inherently related to its persistence and ubiquitous nature. In principle, determination of this class of contaminants are limited to the determination of their concentrations in the various environmental matrices. For solving many problems in this context, knowledge of the emission sources of PCBs, transport pathways, and sites of contamination and biomagnification is of great benefit to scientists and researchers, as well as many regulatory organizations. By far the largest amounts of PCBs, regardless of their discharged points, end up in the soil, sediment and finally in different aquatic environments. By reviewing relevant published materials, the source of origin of PCBs in the environment particularly from different pollution point sources, it is possible to obtain useful information on the nature of different materials that are sources of PCBs, or their concentrations and their toxicity or health effects and how they can be removed from contaminated media. This review focuses on the sources of PCBs in aquatic environments and critically reviews the toxicity of PCBs in aquatic animals and plants. The review also assesses the toxicity equivalency factors (TEFs) of PCBs providing valuable knowledge to other scientists and researchers that enables regulatory laws to be formulated based on selective determination of concentrations regarding their maximum permissible limits (MPLs) allowed. This review also supplies a pool of valuable information useful for designing decontamination technologies for PCBs in media like soil, sediment, and wastewaters.

Degradation of Di- Through Hepta-Chlorobiphenyls in Clophen Oil Using Microorganisms Isolated from Long Term PCBs Contaminated Soil

Present work describes microbial degradation of selected polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) congeners in Clophen oil which is used as transformer oil and contains high concentration of PCBs. Indigenous PCBs degrading bacteria were isolated from Clophen oil contaminated soil using enrichment culture technique. A 15 days study was carried out to assess the biodegradation potential of two bacterial cultures and their consortium for Clophen oil with a final PCBs concentration of 100 mg kg(-1). The degradation capability of the individual bacterium and the consortium towards the varying range of PCBs congeners (di- through hepta-chlorobiphenyls) was determined using GCMS. Also, dehydrogenase enzyme was estimated to assess the microbial activity. Maximum degradation was observed in treatment containing consortium that resulted in up to 97 % degradation of PCB-44 which is a tetra chlorinated biphenyl whereas, hexa chlorinated biphenyl congener (PCB-153) was degraded up to 90 % by the consortium. This indicates that the degradation capability of microbial consortium was significantly higher than that of individual cultures. Furthermore, the results suggest that for degradation of lower as well as higher chlorinated PCB congeners; a microbial consortium is required rather than individual cultures.

Remobilization of polychlorinated biphenyls from sediment and its consequences for their transport in river waters

A laboratory experiment was performed to examine the remobilization of indicator polychlorinated biphenyls (iPCBs) from sediments and its results were applied to the real-world data for explaining the transport of PCBs in river. Seven PCB concentrations were determined in three series of model water-sediment systems (3 g of river sediment, three different volumes of distilled water (0.5, 0.25, and 0.15 ml), and 5 mg of biocide) after 11 days of incubation. Solid-phase extraction was used for separation of analytes from the aqueous phase and solvent extraction for isolation of analytes from the sediments, respectively. The extracts were analyzed for individual iPCB congeners using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method. For each series of the experiment, the concentrations of PCBs in aqueous phase were similar. The average sediment/water partition coefficient value was 10(4) l/kg. The solubility of individual PCB congeners in water did not influence the desorption of PCBs from the sediment. Although the dominant form of PCBs in a water-sediment system occurs as suspended and colloidal fractions, these compounds are transported mostly in a dissolved form. Suspended and colloidal matter is a major sink for PCBs in low-energy aquatic environments. In contrast, the dissolved PCBs are readily transported in running waters. The mobilization of PCBs from sediments to aqueous phase, with respect to their solubility in water, seems to be limited, thus reducing the risk of secondary pollution.

Speciation analysis of aqueous nanoparticulate diclofenac complexes by solid-phase microextraction

The dynamic sorption of an organic compound by nanoparticles (NPs) is analyzed by solid-phase microextraction (SPME) for the example case of the pharmaceutical diclofenac in dispersions of impermeable (silica, SiO(2)) and permeable (bovine serum albumin, BSA) NPs. It is shown that only the protonated neutral form of diclofenac is accumulated in the solid phase, and hence this species governs the eventual partition equilibrium. On the other hand, the rate of the solid/water partition equilibration is enhanced in the presence of the sorbing nanoparticles of SiO(2) and BSA. This feature demonstrates that the NPs themselves do not enter the solid phase to any appreciable extent. The enhanced rate of attainment of equilibrium is due to a shuttle-type of contribution from the NP-species to the diffusive supply of diclofenac to the water/solid interface. For both types of nanoparticulate complexes, the rate constant for desorption (k(des)) of bound diclofenac was derived from the measured thermodynamic affinity constant and a diffusion-limited rate of adsorption. The computed k(des) values were found to be sufficiently high to render the NP-bound species labile on the effective time scale of SPME. In agreement with theoretical prediction, the experimental results are quantitatively described by fully labile behavior of the diclofenac/nanoparticle system and an ensuing accumulation rate controlled by the coupled diffusion of neutral, deprotonated, and NP-bound diclofenac species.

Relationships between persistent organic pollutants and carbonaceous materials in aquatic sediments of Taiwan

Recent studies have shown that many persistent organic pollutants (POPs, e.g., polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and various pesticides), are strongly associated with carbonaceous materials (including organic carbon (OC) and black carbon (BC)). We hypothesize that carbonaceous materials can be used as a first-order pollution index, to indicate areas where POP pollution may require further investigation. We tested our hypothesis and found that strong, positive correlations between BC and OC contents versus the concentrations of PCBs (and PAHs) existed in estuarine sediments of the Danshui River in 2005 and 2008. Thus, our preliminary results demonstrate that POC and BC are potential indicators of the POP pollution potential in fluvial sediments of the Danshui River in Taiwan. This innovative approach can provide a simple, relatively inexpensive and expedient means to monitor concentrations of POPs in polluted aquatic sediments of Taiwan, and/or those having a legacy of POP inputs.

The analysis of dioxins and related compounds

The analysis of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans, polychlorinated biphenyls, and other related compounds requires complex sample preparation and analytical procedures using highly sensitive and selective state-of-the-art instrumentation to meet very stringent data quality objectives. The analytical procedures (extraction, sample preparation), instrumentation (chromatographic separation and detection by mass spectrometry) and screening techniques for the determination of dioxins, furans, dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls and related compounds with a focus on new approaches and alternate techniques to standard regulatory methods are reviewed.

Using SPMDs to monitor water column concentrations of PCDDs, PCDFs and dioxin-like PCBs in Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), Australia

Semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs) were deployed on two occasions throughout Sydney Harbour, Australia, along a 25 km transect. They were used to measure spatial and temporal variation in the available concentrations of 7 polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and 10 polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and 12 dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the water column. The relative percent difference (%RPD) among spatially replicated cages (within 0.13-0.41 km) ranged from less than 8% to greater than 66% across all congeners and was greater for WHO(05)-TEQ(DFP) (average=36%), PCDFs (average=34%) and PCDDs (average=33%) than PCBs (average=23%). Total PCDD (SigmaPCDDs) concentrations ranged between 2.7 and 84 pg L(-1), SigmaPCDF concentrations ranged from 0.15 to 7.2 pg L(-1), SigmaPCB concentrations ranged between 21 and 540 pg L(-1) and WHO(05)-TEQ(DFP) ranged from 0.069 to 1.85 pg L(-1). Highest concentrations were measured in SPMDs deployed in Homebush Bay and concentrations generally declined with distance from Homebush Bay. SPMDs detected changes in congener profiles downstream with OCDD, 2,3,7,8-TCDF and PCBs 189, 157, 167, and 126 increasing in proportion with distance from Homebush Bay. There was a large increase in the daily accumulation of the analytes from winter to summer resulting in an average 3.9-fold increase in the predicted concentration at one site with matched SPMDs.

Environmental fate and global distribution of polychlorinated biphenyls

In recent decades, regulators, academia, and industry have all paid increasing attention to the crucial task of determining how xenobiotic exposures affect biota populations, communities, or entire ecosystems. For decades, PCBs have been recognized as important and potentially harmful environmental contaminants. The intrinsic properties of PCBs, such as high environmental persistence, resistance to metabolism in organisms, and tendency to accumulate in lipids have contributed to their ubiquity in environmental media and have induced concern for their toxic effects after prolonged exposure. PCBs are bioaccumulated mainly by aquatic and terrestrial organisms and thus enter the food web. Humans and wildlife that consume contaminated organisms can also accumulate PCBs in their tissues. Such accumulation is of concern, because it may lead to body burdens of PCBs that could have adverse health effects in humans and wildlife. PCBs may affect not only individual organisms but ultimately whole ecosystems. Moreover, PCBs are slower to biodegrade in the environment than are many other organic chemicals. The low water solubility and the low vapor pressure of PCBs, coupled with air, water, and sediment transport processes, means that they are readily transported from local or regional sites of contamination to remote areas. PCBs are transformed mainly through microbial degradation and particularly reductive dechlorination via organisms that take them up. Metabolism by microorganisms and other animals can cause relative proportions of some congeners to increase while others decrease. Because the susceptibility of PCBs to degradation and bioaccumulation is congener-specific, the composition of PCB congener mixtures that occur in the environment differs substantially from that of the original industrial mixtures released into the environment. Generally, the less-chlorinated congeners are more water soluble, more volatile, and more likely to biodegrade. On the other hand, high-chlorinated PCBs are often more resistant to degradation and volatilization and sorb more strongly to particulate matter. Some more-chlorinated PCBs tend to bioaccumulate to greater concentrations in tissues of animals than do low-molecular-weight ones. The more-heavily chlorinated PCBs can also biomagnify in food webs. Other high-molecular-weight congeners have specific structures that render them susceptible to metabolism by such species as fish, crustacea, birds, and mammals. In recent years, there has been substantial progress made in understanding the human health and ecological effects of PCBs and their environmental dynamics. However, risk assessments based only on the original PCB mixture that entered the environment are not sufficient to determine either (1) the persistence or toxicity of the weathered PCB mixture actually present in the environment, or (2) the risks to humans and the ecosystem posed by the weathered mixture. In this paper, we have reviewed the status of current knowledge on PCBs with regard to environmental inputs, global distribution, and environmental fate. We conclude that to know and understand the critical environmental fate pathways for PCBs, both a combination of field studies in real ecosystems and more controlled laboratory investigations are needed. For the future, both revised and new models on how PCBs behave in the environment are needed. Finally, more information on ow PCBs affect relevant physiological and behavioral characteristics of organisms tha are susceptible to contamination are needed.