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Concentrations, profiles, and emission factors of unintentionally produced persistent organic pollutants in fly ash
Guorui Liu1, Wenbin Liu, Zongwei Cai
1State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100085, China; Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Abstract:
The coking process has been found to be an important source of unintentionally produced persistent organic pollutants (UP-POPs). However, the concentrations, profiles, and emission factors of UP-POPs in fly ash from coke plants have not been studied. In this study, six UP-POPs (polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs), hexachlorobenzene (HxCBz), and pentachlorobenzene (PeCBz)) were identified and quantified in fly ash from eight coke plants. The average concentrations of the PCDDs, PCDFs, and "dioxin-like" PCBs were 1.5, 2.26, and 0.26 pg TEQ g(-1), respectively, and the average concentrations of the PCNs, HxCBz, and PeCBz were 256, 290, and 146 pg g(-1), respectively. The proportion each homolog contributed to the total concentration of the PCDFs, PCBs, and PCNs decreased with increasing chlorination level. The PCDFs contributed the biggest proportion of the total UP-POPs toxic equivalents (TEQs), and the average emission factors in fly ash were 10.5, 17.3, and 1.82 ng TEQt(-1) for the PCDDs, PCDFs, and "dioxin-like" PCBs, respectively, and 1,792, 2,028, and 1,025 ngt(-1) for the PCNs, HxCBz, and PeCBz, respectively. These data are essential for establishing an integrated UP-POP release inventory.
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