Persistent organic pollutants in the Antarctic coastal environment and their bioaccumulation in penguins.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PBDD/Fs), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), have been identified in penguins, lichens, soils, and ornithogenic soils in the Antarctic coastal environment in this study. To the best of our knowledge, no previous study has reported PBDD/F and PBB data from Antarctica. The POP mass contents in penguins were in the following order: PCBs >> PBDEs >> PCDD/Fs; PCBs were the dominant pollutants (6310-144,000 pg/g-lipid), with World Health Organization toxic equivalency values being 2-14 times higher than those of PCDD/Fs. Long-range atmospheric transport is the most primary route by which POPs travel to Antarctica; however, local sources, such as research activities and penguin colonies, also influence POP distribution in the local Antarctic environment. In penguins, the biomagnification factor (BMF) of PCBs was 61.3-3760, considerably higher than that for other POPs. According to BMF data in Adélie penguins, hydrophobic PBDE congeners were more biomagnified at log Kow > 6, and levels decreased at log Kow > 7.5 because larger molecular sizes inhibited transfer across cell membranes.

Long-term monitoring and modeling of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans from municipal solid waste incinerators and surrounding area in northern Taiwan.

Municipal solid waste incinerators (MSWIs) have long been the major contributors of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) to ambient air in Taiwan. After stringent MSWI emission standards were introduced in 2001, the long-term continuous monitoring of flue gas and ambient air quality became necessary to ensure the effectiveness of the related control strategies. Three MSWIs and the surrounding ambient air were investigated in the current study for PCDD/F characteristics during 2006 to 2011. The average concentrations in the flue gas ranged from 0.008 ~ 0.0488 ng I-TEQ/Nm(3), which is much less than the emission standard in Taiwan (0.1 ng I-TEQ/Nm(3)) (I-TEQ is the abbreviation of International Toxic Equivalent). This led to extremely low levels in the ambient air, 0.0255 pg I-TEQ/Nm(3), much less than the levels seen in most urban areas around the world. Additionally, the results obtained using the Industrial Source Complex Short-Term Dispersion Model (ISCST3) indicate that the PCDD/F contributions from the three MSWIs to the ambient air were only in the range from 0.164 ~ 0.723 %. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the PCDD/Fs in the air samples had very similar characteristics to those from mobile sources. The results thus show that stringent regulations have been an effective control strategy, especially for urban areas, such as Taipei City.