[Levels, distribution and possible sources of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in river sediments from an electronic...

The concentrations of 41 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in the river sediments from Luqiao were analyzed by GC-NCI-MS. The objectives of this study were to understand the contents, spatial distribution and sources. The Sigma40 PBDEs (excluding BDE209) concentrations in sediments sampled were in the range of 0.177 to 161 ng x g(-1), with a mean of 22.5 ng x g(-1), and the concentrations of BDE209 were from 0.36 to 958 ng x g(-1), with a mean of 148 ng x g(-1). Deca-BDE was the most predominant in 9 PBDE homologues in most of samples, accounting for 38.4%-96.0%, with an average of 74.4% nona-BDEs and hepta-BDEs, accounting for 3.3%-25.8% and 0.01%-14.1%, respectively. Significant correlations were observed among all of PBDEs congeners, which suggested these PBDEs might have the similar sources. The homologue composition of PBDEs and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) showed that most of sampling sites were mainly polluted by deca-BDE formulation, and others polluted by deca-BDE and octa-BDE formulations. Compared to other studies from different countries and regions, the PBDEs concentrations in the present study were at a medium-to-low level. But it should be concerned that a few of sampling sites were highly contaminated by point sources.