Field Concentrations and Persistence of Polybrominated Biphenyls in Soils and Solubility of PBB in Natural Waters

Jacobs, L. W.; Chou, S. F.; Tiedje, J. M.

doi:10.2307/3428734

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 11 publications

(12 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…PBBs, like PCBs, were considered to be highly recalcitrant in the environment, and there is evidence for their persistence in the environment (16). Their fate in soils is characterized by low leachability (11), lack of uptake by plants (6,14), and absence of biological degradation (14,15).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reductive debromination of the commercial polybrominated biphenyl mixture firemaster BP6 by anaerobic microorganisms from sediments

Morris

Quensen

Tiedje

et al. 1992

Appl Environ Microbiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Anaerobic microorganisms eluted from three sediments, one contaminated with polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and two contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, were compared for their ability to debrominate the commercial PBB mixture Firemaster. These microorganisms were incubated with reduced anaerobic mineral medium and noncontaminated sediment amended with Firemaster. Firemaster averages six bromines. per biphenyl molecule; four of the bromines are substituted in the meta orpara position. The inocula from all three sources were able to debrominate the meta and para positions. Microorganisms from the Pine River (St. Louis, Mich.) contaminated with Firemaster, the Hudson River (Hudson Fails, N.Y.) contaminated with Aroclor 1242, and Silver Lake (Pittsfield, Mass.) contaminated with Aroclor 1260 removed 32, 12, and 3% of the meta plus para bromines, respectively, after 32 weeks of incubation. This suggests that previous environmental exposure to PBBs enhances the debromination capability of the sediment microbial community through selection for different strains of microorganisms. The Pine River inoculum removed an average of 1.25 bromines per biphenyl molecule during a 32-week incubation period, resulting in a mixture potentially more accessible to aerobic degradation processes. No ortho bromine removal was observed. However, when Firemaster was incubated with Hudson River microorganisms that had been repeatedly transferred on a pyruvate medium amended with Aroclor 1242, 17% of the meta and para bromines were removed after 16 weeks of incubation and additional debromination products, including 2-bromobiphenyl and biphenyl, were detected. This suggests the possibility for ortho debromination, since all components of the Firemaster mixture have at least one ortho-substituted bromine. These results demonstrate that microorganisms found in the PBB-contaminated Pine River sediments have the capability to debrominate the PBB congeners in Firemaster. Polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) are industrial compounds that were manufactured as fire retardants for thermoplastic applications. The commercial production of PBBs began in 1970, and approximately 13.3 million pounds (ca. 6.03 x 109 g) was produced in the United States between 1970 and 1976 (9). The Michigan Chemical Corp. (later Velsicol Chemical Corp.) (St. Louis, Mich.) manufactured PBBs under the trade name Firemaster BP6 between 1970 and 1974. In 1973, between 500 and 1,000 pounds (ca. 2.27 x 105 and 4.54 x 105 g, respectively) of the flame retardant was mistaken for the dairy feed additive magnesium oxide, resulting in contamination of animal feeds, animals, and soils in Michigan (5). The Michigan Chemical Corp. manufacturing site is located adjacent to the Pine River in St. Louis, Mich. Sediments at this site are contaminated with PBBs and

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reductive debromination of the commercial polybrominated biphenyl mixture firemaster BP6 by anaerobic microorganisms from sediments

Morris

Quensen

Tiedje

et al. 1992

Appl Environ Microbiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In addition, bromophenols may be produced during the chlorination of water containing bromide and phenolic compounds (47). By analogy with the microbial metabolism of polychlorobiphenyls (11), it is possible that polybromobiphenols are formed from polybromobiphenyls (9,15,36). The possible persistence in the environment of all of these compounds is therefore a matter of concern, even though phenols carrying both chloro-(13, 44) and bromo- (5,10,14) substituents have been identified as natural microbial and algal metabolites.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bacterial O-methylation of halogen-substituted phenols

Allard¹,

Remberger²,

Neilson³

1987

Appl Environ Microbiol

149

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Two strains of bacteria capable of carrying out the 0-methylation of phenolic compounds, one from the gram-positive genus Rhodococcus and one from the gram-negative genus Acinetobacter, were used to examine the 0-methylation of phenols carrying fluoro-, chloro-, and bromo-substituents. Zero-order rates of 0methylation were calculated from data for the chloroand bromophenols; there was no simple relationship between the rates of reaction and the structure of the substrates, and significant differences were observed in the responses of the two test organisms. For the gram-negative strain, the pattern of substitution was as important as the number of substituents. Hexachlorophene was resistant to 0-methylation by both strains, and tetrabromobisphenol-A was 0-methylated only by the gram-positive strain. It is suggested that in the natural environment, bacterial 0-methylation of phenols carrying electron-attracting substituents might be a significant alternative to biodegradation.

show abstract

“…Although EPIWIN [20] estimated a soil half-life of 8,640 h (or $360 d), Jacobs et al [38] reported that PBBs may remain in soil for many years because of their nonvolatility and resistance to bacterial degradation. Jacobs et al [39] also reported that there was no detectable degradation of two major PBB isomer (hexa-and heptabromobiphenyls) in soils in one year.…”

Section: Pbb Contaminationmentioning

confidence: 91%

A dynamic multimedia environmental and bioaccumulation model for brominated flame retardants in Lake Huron and Lake Erie, USA

Lim

Lastoskie

2011

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) may pose a worldwide pollution problem because of their persistence, long-range transport capability, and predisposition to bioaccumulate. The ubiquitous presence of PBBs and PBDEs has heightened interest in determination of their fate. We report results for a fugacity-based dynamic environmental and bioaccumulation model of the fate of hexabromobiphenyl (hexaBB) discharged into the Saginaw Bay region of Lake Huron, USA. We calculated transient fugacity profiles of hexaBB in Lake Huron and Lake Erie water and sediment during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The hexaBB concentrations in the environmental compartments were used as inputs for a dynamic bioaccumulation model of Lake Huron and Lake Erie aquatic biota. The model results indicate that the sediment compartments of Lakes Huron and Erie serve as reservoirs for the accumulation and slow transfer of hexaBB to the food web constituents of these lakes. We present bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) and compare the predicted hexaBB concentrations in lake trout from the bioaccumulation model with measurements during the period 1980 to 2000. An uncertainty analysis for this model suggests that errors associated with input parameter uncertainty can be reduced by refining estimates of the sediment degradation half-life of hexaBB. The corroborated PBB model has carryover application for modeling the fate of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) contaminants in the Great Lakes. By fitting model outputs to field measurement data using the transformed least square fit method, we report estimations of 2,2',4,4'-tetrabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-47) emission rates into the Lake Huron and Lake Erie watershed areas.

show abstract

Field Concentrations and Persistence of Polybrominated Biphenyls in Soils and Solubility of PBB in Natural Waters

Cited by 6 publications

References 11 publications

Reductive debromination of the commercial polybrominated biphenyl mixture firemaster BP6 by anaerobic microorganisms from sediments

Reductive debromination of the commercial polybrominated biphenyl mixture firemaster BP6 by anaerobic microorganisms from sediments

Bacterial O-methylation of halogen-substituted phenols

A dynamic multimedia environmental and bioaccumulation model for brominated flame retardants in Lake Huron and Lake Erie, USA

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About