Landfills and waste water treatment plants as sources of ... - GKSS

INTRODUCTION
1.5 Sources
Sources of PFCs, PBDEs and musk fragrances can be divided into direct and indirect sources.
Direct sources are production plants that emit these substances either in the atmosphere or as
waste water into rivers (Dinglasan-Panlilio and Mabury 2006; Prevedouros et al. 2006; Chen
et al. 2007b). Indirect sources are the release of those contaminants from products by
volatilisation and during use, application and cleaning into waste water (Simonich et al. 2000;
Hale et al. 2002; Heberer 2002; Palm et al. 2002; Agrell et al. 2004; Prevedouros et al. 2004;
Dinglasan-Panlilio and Mabury 2006; Kim et al. 2006b; Sinclair et al. 2007; Chen et al. 2009;
Choi et al. 2009; Paul et al. 2009).
Direct emissions of ionic PFCs have been identified as the major source to surface water
(Prevedouros et al. 2006; Paul et al. 2009). Ionic PFCs in the atmosphere are predominantly
particle-bound and thus subject to rapid deposition (Barton et al. 2006). In contrast, semivolatile
and volatile PFCs are emitted directly from production processes of fluorosurfactants
(Dinglasan-Panlilio and Mabury 2006; Prevedouros et al. 2006). However, indirect emissions
by volatilisation and application from consumer products that have been reported to contain
semi-volatile and volatile PFCs (Dinglasan-Panlilio and Mabury 2006; Sinclair et al. 2007;
Fiedler et al. 2008; Jensen et al. 2008; Langer 2010) are regarded as the dominating source.
Paul et al. (2009) estimated that 85 % of total neutral PFC emissions are likely due to these
releases.
So far, the direct emission sources for PBDEs into water and air are not well known. Since
PBDEs are simply blended to polymers, plastics and electronic housings indirect emissions
are regarded as the major sources for PBDEs into the atmosphere (Palm et al. 2002;
Prevedouros et al. 2004). This is supported by studies that have been performed on the
leaching characteristics of PBDEs from fabrics, such as plastics, TV housings, and
polyurethane foams (Hale et al. 2002; Kim et al. 2006b; Choi et al. 2009) In 2000, indirect
emissions in Europe were estimated to be 750 kg for BDE47 whereas BDE99 accounts only
for about 1 kg (Prevedouros et al. 2004). In two coherent studies from southern Sweden waste
incineration facilities were identified as point sources for PBDEs to ambient air (Agrell et al.
2004; Ter Schure et al. 2004). In contrast, Prevedouros et al. (2004) estimated BDE47
emissions by this route into the UK atmosphere to be less than 1 kg a -1 and concluded that
waste incineration is a negligible PBDE source. Recently, Chen et al. (2009) and Cahill et al.
(2007) reported elevated air concentrations at electronic waste dismantling and recycling
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