Test chamber investigation of the volatilization from source materials of brominated flame retardants and their subsequent deposition to indoor dust

Abstract

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are ubiquitous in indoor air and dust, leading to human exposure and resultant concerns about their adverse impact on health. Indoor dust has been demonstrated to constitute an important vector of human exposure to BFRs, especially for toddlers. Despite the greater importance of dust contamination in the context of human exposure to BFRs, the mechanisms via which BFRs transfer from source materials to dust have hitherto been subject to only limited research. In this study, a test chamber is utilized to simulate the migration of BFRs to dust via volatilization from source materials and subsequent deposition to dust.

Characterizing the sorption of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) to cotton and polyester fabrics under controlled conditions

“…A detailed explanation of the test chambers is given by Rauert et al (2015). Briefly, stainless steel cylindrical chambers of 10 cm diameter and 20 cm height were used at the University of Birmingham, UK.…”

“…A similar assembly of two PUF disks was attached to the outlet to collect PBDEs in outflow air. Only the 'chamber-side' outlet PUF was treated as a sample as the air-side PUF did not show any breakthrough loss during experimental design development (Rauert et al, 2015). The length of polypropylene tubing attached to the outlet was kept at 2 cm to minimize the loss of PBDEs due to sorption to the tubing surface (Rauert et al, 2015).…”

“…Only the 'chamber-side' outlet PUF was treated as a sample as the air-side PUF did not show any breakthrough loss during experimental design development (Rauert et al, 2015). The length of polypropylene tubing attached to the outlet was kept at 2 cm to minimize the loss of PBDEs due to sorption to the tubing surface (Rauert et al, 2015). Two platforms inside the chamber were made of wire mesh placed on stainless steel O-rings attached within the chambers.…”

“…Recently, Morrison et al (2015a) reported fabric-air partition coefficients of phthalates (Diethyl phthalate, DEP and Di-n-butyl phthalate, DnBP) obtained by exposing the fabrics to phthalate-equilibrated air in a closed chamber experiment over 10 days. Rauert et al (2014Rauert et al ( , 2015 designed a chamber to test the mechanisms responsible for transferring to dust the flame retardants (FRs) polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) from an electronic casing and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD) from an impregnated curtain. In both studies, they found that abrasion of FR-enriched particles and fibres from the casing and curtain was likely a more significant pathway with subsequent deposition to dust.…”

New insight into the levels, distribution and health risk diagnosis of indoor and outdoor dust-bound FRs in colder, rural and industrial zones of Pakistan

“…Moreover, the coarse and fine particles are the main contributor to the deposition (wet and dry) processes of the particle-bounds FRs. However, the major pathways of mass or FRs transfer from treated materials into the dust include different routes: volatilization of FRs from the source products, abrasion of the treated consumer goods and direct contact between dust and materials (Rauert et al, 2015). Several studies have also demonstrated the correlation between concentration of FRs in the air and dust and the FRs sources (Allen et al, 2008;De Wit et al, 2012).…”