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Research Project: Developing Technologies that Enable Growth and Profitability in the Commercial Conversion of Sugarcane, Sweet Sorghum, and Energy Beets into Sugar, Advanced Biofuels, and bioproducts-Bridging Project

Location: Commodity Utilization Research

Title: Spatial distribution, source analysis, and ecological risk assessment of PBDEs in river sediment around Taihu Lake, China

Author
item YUAN, XUYIN - Hohai University
item WANG, YIMIN - Hohai University
item TANG, LI - Hohai University
item ZHOU, HUIHUA - Hohai University
item HAN, NIAN - Hohai University
item ZHU, HAI - Hohai University
item Uchimiya, Sophie

Submitted to: Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/13/2020
Publication Date: 4/23/2020
Citation: Yuan, X., Wang, Y., Tang, L., Zhou, H., Han, N., Zhu, H., Uchimiya, M. 2020. Spatial distribution, source analysis, and ecological risk assessment of PBDEs in river sediment around Taihu Lake, China. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 192(5):309. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08286-2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08286-2

Interpretive Summary: Structurally similar pollutants are found in waterways and sediments. Distribution of those different structures (congeners) is the key to identifying the origin of contamination (e.g., factory, upstream rivers, and atmospheric deposition) for environmental forensics and risk assessment. Congener distribution of highly polluted model waterways indicated organic carbon content of sediment to be the predictor of contamination and risk levels.

Technical Abstract: The distribution and composition of organic pollutants in sediment are affected by the source and regional environment. To understand the characteristics and risk of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) around Taihu lake, composite sediment samples (n=41) were collected in rivers around Taihu Lake to explore the level, spatial distribution and source of PBDEs. The results showed that the most abundant BDE congener in river sediment was BDE209, followed by BDE99 and BDE47, with median values of 48.7, 2.17 and 1.52 ng•g-1, respectively. Concentrations of PBDEs in sediments from northern rivers were significantly higher than those from other areas, but the overall risk was at a moderate-lower level compared to study results in other references. Results of principle component analysis (PCA) and source characteristics analysis revealed that most of PBDEs in river sediments around Taihu Lake were mixture of multiple sources, and atmospheric deposition, industrial wastewater and municipal sewage were main sources. TOC showed good correlation with most PBDEs, which implied that PBDEs components were influenced by sediment organic matter. Meanwhile, the risk of PBDEs in river sediments in this study area is a moderate-lower level.