Contamination Level, Distribution Characteristics, and Ecotoxicity of Tetrabromobisphenol A in Water and Sediment from Weihe River Basin, China

Xueli Wang, Chenyang Li, Xiaoyu Yuan and Shengke Yang
Additional contact information
Xueli Wang: Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effects in Arid Region, Ministry of Education, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710054, China
Chenyang Li: Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effects in Arid Region, Ministry of Education, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710054, China
Xiaoyu Yuan: Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effects in Arid Region, Ministry of Education, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710054, China
Shengke Yang: Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effects in Arid Region, Ministry of Education, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710054, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 11, 1-13

Abstract: Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) is a brominated flame retardant, which is widely present in the various environmental and biological media. The knowledge on the contamination of TBBPA in Weihe River Basin is still limited. In order to know the pollution level and distribution of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) in the Weihe River Basin, a total of 34 sediment samples and 36 water samples were collected from the main stream and tributaries of the WeiHe River Basin, and the concentration of TBBPA in the samples was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization–mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS). The detection frequency of TBBPA in sediments and water samples was 61.8% and 27.8%, respectively; the TBBPA concentrations in sediments and water samples were in the range of not detected (N.D.)–3.889 ng/g (mean value of 0.283 ng/g) and N.D—12.279 ng/L (mean value of 0.937 ng/L), respectively. Compared with other areas in China, the residues of TBBPA in the Weihe River Basin were at a relatively low level. The spatial distributions of TBBPA in surface sediments and water indicated that the local point-input was their major source. This is related to the proximity of some sampling sites to industrial areas and domestic sewage discharge areas. The insignificant correlation between TBBPA and total organic carbon (TOC) indicated that TBBPA in sediments is not only influenced by TOC but also affected by atmosphere and land input, wet deposition, and long-distance transmission. The potential risks posed by TBBPA in water and sediment were characterized using the risk quotient (RQ) method. The calculated RQ for TBBPA was less than 0.01, showing that the ecological risk due to TBBPA was quite low for aquatic organisms.

Keywords: tetrabromobisphenol A; sediment; water; Weihe River Basin; distribution; risk assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/11/3750/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/11/3750/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:11:p:3750-:d:362995

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().