Unintentional production of persistent chlorinated and brominated organic pollutants during iron ore sintering processes

Sumei Li; Guorui Liu; Minghui Zheng; Wenbin Liu; Jinhui Li; Mei Wang; Changliang Li; Yuan Chen

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2017.02.027

Unintentional production of persistent chlorinated and brominated organic pollutants during iron ore sintering processes

J Hazard Mater. 2017 Jun 5:331:63-70. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2017.02.027. Epub 2017 Feb 20.

Authors

Sumei Li¹, Guorui Liu², Minghui Zheng³, Wenbin Liu³, Jinhui Li⁴, Mei Wang³, Changliang Li³, Yuan Chen⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. Electronic address: grliu@rcees.ac.cn.
³ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
⁴ School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.

PMID: 28242530
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2017.02.027

Abstract

Iron ore sintering (SNT) processes are major sources of unintentionally produced chlorinated persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs). However, few studies of emissions of brominated POPs, such as polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins/dibenzofurans (PBDD/Fs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), during SNT have been performed. Stack gas and fly ash samples from six typical SNT plants in China were collected and analyzed to determine the concentrations and profiles of PCDD/Fs, PCBs, PCNs, PBDD/Fs, and PBDEs, as well as any correlations among these compounds. The PCDD/F, PCB, PCN, PBDD/F, and PBDE emission factors were 2.47, 0.61, 552, 0.32, and 107μgt^-1, respectively (109, 4.07, 10.4, 4.41 and 0.02ng toxic equivalents t^-1, respectively). PCBs were the most abundant compounds by mass, while PCNs were the next most abundant, contributing 51% and 42% to the total POP concentration, respectively. However, PCDD/Fs were the dominant contributors to the chlorinated and brominated POP toxic equivalent concentrations, contributing 89% to the total toxic equivalent concentration. The PCDD/F and other chlorinated and brominated POP concentrations were positively correlated, indicating that chlorinated and brominated POP emissions could be synergistically decreased using the best available technologies/best environmental practices already developed for PCDD/Fs.

Keywords: Dioxins; Iron ore sintering; Persistent organic pollutants; Polychlorinated naphthalenes; Profiles.