Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Chinese Surface Soils

Abstract

Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations in surface soil samples (0-20 cm) from 52 sites (4 background, 39 rural, and 9 urban) across China in 2005 are presented. The average concentration of total PCBs among all the sites was 515 pg/g dry weight (dw), approximately one-tenth of that in global background soil in 1998. Differences of less than 1 order of magnitude were found between all background and rural sites, indicating a generally uniform distribution of PCBs in Chinese background/rural surface soil. While the major PCB homologue group in global background soil is hexa-PCB followed by penta-PCB, the major PCB homologue group in Chinese background/rural soil is tri-PCB followed by di-PCB, indicating a rather fresh signature in comparison to the much weathered PCBs in global surface soil. The correlation between sigmaPCBs and also each PCB homologue group per soil organic carbon (SOC) content in background/rural soil with longitude from 80 degrees to 122 degrees East was studied. The results indicated the strong influence of PCBs concentrations in Chinese background/rural soil by proximity to source region and SOC content, and also provided evidence for urban fractionation effect of PCBs in soil in the city of Shanghai and the longitudinal fractionation of PCBs in Chinese background/ rural soil from east to west. This work is the first comprehensive and spatial study of its kind for PCBs in Chinese surface soil on a national scale, and the data presented in this study can provide baseline information for establishing a long-term PCBs monitoring program in China.

Occurrence of brominated flame retardants (BFRs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in agricultural soils in a BFR-manufacturing region of North China

“…The PCB levels were within the concentration range in soils recently reported from East, Northeast, and North China (average 1.07-35.5 ng/g) (Teng et al, 2008;Wang et al, 2008Wang et al, , 2010Wu et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2007) and comparable to the PCB levels in the global background soil (average 5.41 ng/g) (Meijer et al, 2003). Nevertheless, the values in the present study were higher than the PCB concentrations (0.14-1.84 ng/g, average 0.52 ng/g) in soils across China (including urban, rural, and background soils) (Ren et al, 2007). The PCB homolog composition was similar to that in the Chinese technical PCB product but different from that in soils across China (Fig.…”

“…tetra-, and di-PCBs constituted the majority of PCBs (Ren et al, 2007). These findings indicated that the soils in this region were subject to higher PCB pollution than most Chinese soils because of the intensive industrial activities in and around Shouguang region.…”

Distribution of PCBs and PBDEs in soils along the altitudinal gradients of Balang Mountain, the east edge of the Tibetan Plateau

“…P 25 PCBs in soils ranged from 59 to 287 pg/g with an average value of 163 pg/g, These concentrations are comparable to the ones reported by Wang et al (2009) in soils from the Tibetan Plateau (mean value 186 pg/g) and lower than the PCB concentrations (424 pg/g) in soils from Chinese background areas (Ren et al, 2007), global background levels (5410 pg/g) (Meijer et al, 2003), and an Italian mountain near a regional industrial source (3600 AE 2300 pg/g) (Tremolada et al, 2008), whereas higher than those of Peru mountain (80 AE 140 pg/g) (Tremolada et al, 2008). The main congeners were tri-CBs and hexa-CBs, which accounted for 48.2% and 17.5% of P 25 PCBs, respectively.…”

“…The main congeners were tri-CBs and hexa-CBs, which accounted for 48.2% and 17.5% of P 25 PCBs, respectively. A recent study also reported that di-and tri-CBs were the dominant congeners in soils from remote/farm region while hexa-CB and tri-CB were the main congeners of those from urban area in China (Ren et al, 2007). Seven indicator PCBs (including 52,101,118,153,138,and 180) were detected in all samples with concentration ranges of 0.2e151 pg/g, which accounted for 71%e 84% of P 25 PCBs.…”

Removal of polychlorinated biphenyls by desulfurization and emissions of polychlorinated biphenyls from sintering plants

“…These properties make it possible for PCBs to undergo long-range transport, and they pose global risks to human health and the environment (Liu et al 2009a;Meijer et al 2003;Ren et al 2007). The manufacture and use of commercial products containing PCBs were banned in most countries in 1973.…”