Validation and Characterization of Persistent Organic Pollutant Emissions from Stack Flue Gases of an Electric Arc Furnace by Using a Long-Term Sampling System (AMESA®)

Abstract

A long-term sampling system, called the Adsorption Method for Sampling of Dioxins and Furans (AMESA), was used for long-term sampling (up to 168 hours) of an electric arc furnace (EAF) to obtain the representative flue gas samples. In order to have a comprehensive view of the emissions of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from EAFs, six POPs, including polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated diphenyl ethers (PCDEs), polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PBDD/Fs), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), were investigated. Tests showed the breakthroughs of PBDD/Fs and PBDEs are much larger (8.9%-43%), while the others are less than 3%. A significant increase in breakthrough with the increase in halogen numbers is observed, because highly halogen-substituted POPs tend to partition to the particulate-phase. Except for PCBs and PCDEs, whose percentages of the POPs in the rinses to the total POPs collected from the long-term samples (cartridges + rinses) are less than 7%, those of the other POPs are all greater than 30%. Therefore, the solvents from the rinses of the sampling probe and other components need to be combined with an XAD-2 cartridge for analyses. The PCBs and PBDEs are the most abundant pollutants in the stack flue gases of the EAF, and their mass concentrations are one to three orders higher than those of the other POPs. With regard to POPs with dioxin-like toxicity, the percentages of the contributed toxicities by PCDD/Fs, PCBs and PBBD/Fs are 87.1%, 11.7% and 1.2%. The close association that PBDEs and PBDD/Fs have with the concentrations and congener profiles is not present for PCDEs and PCDD/Fs, suggesting the need for further studies of the formation mechanisms of these analogues.

Overview and Perspectives on Emissions of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers on a Global Basis: Evaporative and Fugitive Releases from Commercial PBDE Mixtures and Emissions from Combustion Sources

“…Table 4 lists PBDE emission factors of major combustion sources which can be divided into different categories, including waste incinerators, metallurgical processes, power and heating facilities, vehicles, and non-controlled combustion sources. These combustion sources also have been identified by various countries across the globe as important PCDD/F emission sources (Wang et al, 2003a, b;Lee et al, 2004;Wu et al, 2014;Xu et al, 2014;Mwangi et al, 2015;Wang et al, 2015;Cheruiyot et al, 2016). We can also categorize these combustion sources into two groups.…”

Levels of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in Air-Conditioner Filter Dust Used to Assess Health Risks in Clinic and Electronic Plant Employees

“…The analytical PBDE method in the present study was modified from that used in previous studies (Chao et al, 2014c;Wu et al, 2014). Samples (1-3 grams of dust) were spiked with 13 C 12 -labeled PBDE internal standards prior to extraction by a Soxhlet extractor with 200-ml toluene for at least 16 hours.…”

Indoor Level of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in the Home Environment and Assessment of Human Health Risks

“…Our value had the similar magnitude with ambient levels of PBDEs in the urban areas, but lower than those in the industrial areas of Florence, Italy (Cincinelli1 et al, 2014). Compared with the other brominated POPs like polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs), PBDEs are the most abundant pollutants in the flue gas and outdoor environment (Chao et al, 2014c;Wang et al, 2014). Although PBDEs have the structural similarity with PCBs and PCDD/Fs, their emission sources and transportation routes are quite different.…”