Halogenated organic pollutants in particulate matters emitted during recycling of waste printed circuit boards in a typical e-waste workshop of Southern China.

Air particle samples collected from a typical workshop of Southern China engaged in recycling waste printed circuit boards were analyzed for PBDEs, PCDD/Fs, and PBDD/Fs. The concentrations and profiles of these compounds were presented. Concentrations ofPPBDEs,PPCDD/Fs andPPBDD/Fs in this workshop were 948 ng m⁻³, 317 pg m⁻³ (14.5 pg WHO-TEQ m⁻³) and 481 pg m⁻³ (91.3 pg I-TEQ m⁻³), respectively. BDEs-47, -99, and -209 were the dominant PBDE congeners, and the relatively high levels of octaand nona-BDEs might be generated from the degradation of BDE-209. The levels of 2,3,7,8-PCDD/Fs and 2,3,7,8-PBDD/Fs were much higher than those in the atmospheric environment, and concentrations of PBDD/Fs were higher than those of PCDD/Fs. These findings suggest that the primitive recycling method represents a strong source of halogenated organic pollutants to the ambient atmosphere of an e-waste recycling locale.

Heavy metals and organic compounds contamination in soil from an e-waste region in South China.

Heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were analyzed in 34 surface soil samples collected from farmland and 7 soil or dust samples collected from the workshops in South China, where e-waste was dismantled using primitive techniques. The results show that Cd, Cu and Hg were the most abundant metals, in particular Cd pollution was serious in farmland soils, and the median concentrations in farmland soils were beyond the environmental quality standard for soils (China Grade II). A correlation between Cd, Cu, Zn, Pb and PCBs or PBDEs was significant indicating similar sources. Among the PCB congeners, high relative similarity was observed between the e-waste dump site soil (EW1) and Aroclor 1254, implying that the technical product Aroclor 1254 was one of the major sources of PCB contamination. High concentrations of PCBs in workshop dusts (D2 and D3) (1958 and 1675 µg kg(-1)) demonstrated that the workshops dismantling electrical wires and cables, electrical motors, compressors and aluminum apparatus containing PCBs in lubricants represent strong PCB emission sources to this area. Principal component analysis (PCA) and PBDE homologue patterns verify that farmland soils surrounding the e-waste recycling sites were enriched with lower brominated congeners, and the major source of PBDEs in dust samples might potentially be associated with the extensive use of deca-mix technical products as a flame retardant. The difference between e-waste soils, dusts and farmland soils can be observed in the PCA score plot of PCBs and PBDEs, and E-waste soils and dusts exhibited more diversity than farmland soils. Furthermore, a prediction of the particular kinds of pollution from different recycling activities through the analysis of each contamination and the connections between them was investigated.

Hydroxylated PBDEs and brominated phenolic compounds in particulate matters emitted during recycling of waste printed circuit boards in a typical e-waste workshop of South China.

The hydroxylated PBDEs (OH-PBDEs) and brominated phenolic compounds in aerosol samples from a printed circuit boards recycling workshop were characterized. The results show that OH-PBDEs, which are naturally occurring compounds or metabolism of PBDEs, could also be emitted from the e-waste recycling. Five OH-PBDEs, several unidentified mono-OH-PBDE and di-OH-PBDE congeners were detected. The concentration of ∑OH-PBDEs was 1.74-4.22 ng m(-3) (average of 2.66 ng m(-3)), with 6-OH-BDE-47 (0.329 ng m(-3)) as the most abundant identified congener. The total concentration of di- to tri-brominated phenols (BPs) was 18.8-32.0 ng m(-3) (average of 26.3 ng m(-3)) with 2,4,6-triBP as the most abundant congener. These findings suggest that the recycling of printed circuit boards represent a strong source of OH-PBDEs and BPs to the atmosphere. Additionally, some phenolic compounds including brominated bisphenol A, hydroxylated polybrominated biphenyl species and etc. were also identified.