WP5 Indoor Environments
Room 17A/B, Level 4
2:10 PM - 5:30 PM, Wednesday, 12 November 2003
Chair: Ulrich, Elin ,
Co-chair: Butt, Craig ,
(449A) Indoor/outdoor relationships and partitioning of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and perfluorinated compounds.
Harner, T1, Wilford, B1, Shoeib, M1, Zhu, J1, Ikonomou, M1, Kannan, K1, Jones, K1, 1 Meteorological Service of Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
ABSTRACT- Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and Perfluoro-octane sulfonate (PFOS) are persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that are used predominantly in 'domestic' or 'workplace' environments. Both classes are distributed globally and detected in wildlife in remote locations where they have never been used. To assess source/receptor relationships we sampled over 75 homes in two air sampling campaigns, employing active (high vol.) and passive air samplers. Outdoor samples were also collected. In the case of PFOS we investigated three suspected precursor compounds (fluorosulfonamides) that are deemed to be more susceptible to long range transport. Results showed large indoor/outdoor gradients and large variability between homes. To better understand the partitioning and fate of these chemicals we undertook to measure the octanol/air partition coefficient (Koa) over the range 0 to +20 C. Octanol has been successfully used to describe the partitioning of hydrophobic, non-polar chemicals to environmental phases such as soil, vegetation and aerosols. Values of log Koa (at 20 C) ranged from approximately 5 for fluorotelomers to 7.5 to 8 for the fluorosulfonamides. Based on empirical relationships derived for non-polar, hydrophobic chemicals, the fluorosulfonamides should exist mainly in the gas-phase. However, results from indoor air samples (collected using conventional high volume samplers) show that they are mainly associated with particles, indicating that revised partitioning relationships are necessary for these compounds. PBDEs agreed very well with model predictions.
Key words: passive air samplers, BFRs, fluorosulfonamides, , PBDEs