M3 PM Wastewater Treatment: Analysis, Fate and Removal of Emerging Contaminants
Monday, 14 November 2005: 1:50 PM - 5:30 PM in Ballroom 3

(SET-1117-831486) Fate and transport of congeners of the PBDE flame retardant during the municipal sewage treatment process.

Seth, R¹, Song, M¹, Chu, S¹, Letcher, R², ¹ University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada² National Wildlife Research Centre, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT- Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are a class of compounds that are used as brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in a variety of commercial products. A major PBDE technical mixture referred to as PentaBDE is comprised of several congeners, mainly BDE47, 99, 100, 153 and 154. Recent studies have shown that sewage treatment plant (STP) effluents could be a major source of contamination for PBDEs, especially in the receiving water bodies of local aquatic environments surrounding the location of these discharges. Congeners of the PentaBDE mixture, BDE47, 99, 100, 153 and 154, pose a great environmental concern in North America due to their mobility potential and > 97% use of the global production of the mixture in the region. Despite the concern, characterization of the fate and transport of the PentaBDE mixture during the sewage treatment process is lacking. Samples were collected under dry-weather conditions at six different locations at the Little River STP in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The samples were analyzed for eight PBDE congeners (BDE28, 47, 99, 100, 138, 153, 154 and 183) in both soluble and solid (particulate) fractions. PentaBDE congeners accounted for > 98% of the sum-PBDE concentration, with over 80% of the composition being BDE47 and BDE99. Potential factors affecting the behaviour of the PentaBDE congeners during the sewage treatment process, and the possible effects of these factors on the discharge of PentaBDE congeners with the STP effluent will be discussed.

Key words: PBDEs, sewage treatment, environmental assessment, fate and transport