Phthalate ester speciation in estuarine water, suspended particulates and sediments

Following earlier work (Al-Omran & Preston, 1987) in which phthalate ester speciation was examined in laboratory studies, the present paper describes the results of an attempt to validate the results by field measurements in the River Mersey Estuary, Liverpool, UK. Samples of water, suspended solids and sediments were analysed for their phthalate ester content. Solid samples were also analysed for their carbon, organic carbon and lipid content. A comparison of the field and laboratory results confirms the association between diethylhexyl phthalate and small particles and shows that other phthalates tend to be associated with relatively coarse, lipid-rich particles. Partition coefficients between dissolved phthalate esters and suspended particles are calculated and compared with other laboratory studies.