Electric arc furnaces for steel-making: hot spots for persistent organic pollutants

Persistent organic pollutant (POP) concentrations were measured in stack-gases of ferrous scrap processing steel plants with electric arc furnaces (EAFs) (n = 5) in Aliaga, Izmir, Turkey and in air (n = 11) at a site near those plants. Measured stack-gas concentrations for the four plants without scrap preheating (611 +/- 311, 165,000 +/- 285,000, and 33 +/- 3 ng m(-3), average +/- SD for sigma41PCBs, sigma16PAHs, and sigma7PBDEs, respectively) indicated that they are significant sources for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). POP emissions from the plant with scrap preheating were significantly higher (13 500, 445 000, and 91 ng m(-3) for sigma41PCBs, sigma16PAHs, and sigma7PBDEs, respectively). It was also shown that the steel plants emit considerable amounts of fugitive POPs in particle-phase. Estimated emissions using the emission factors generated in this study and the production amounts suggested that the steel plants with EAFs may significantly contribute to local and global PAH, PCB, and PBDE emissions. Several other compounds (aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons, oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, and chlorine-containing organic compounds, n = 49) were identified and determined semiquantitatively in the stack-gas and ambient air samples. Ambient air concentrations (62 +/- 35, 320 +/- 134 ng m(-3), 1451 +/- 954 pg m(-3), for sigma41PCBs, sigma16PAHs, and sigma7PBDEs, respectively) were significantly higher than those measured previously around the world and in the region, further confirming that the steel plants with EAFs are "hot spots" for POPs.