Polychlorinated Dibenzofurans and Dibenzo-p-Dioxin in Tree Bark from an Industrialized Area: What the 2,3,7,8-Cl Substituted Congeners Tell Us, and What Is Missing

We analyzed polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF) and dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD) in 27 tree bark samples from the industrialized area near Sauget, Illinois, USA. The trees were located within 4 km of the W. G. Krummrich (WGK) plant, the oldest and largest chemical plant in Sauget, with 24 of 27 samples collected from residential areas. The percent of total PCDF or PCDD profiles of ten 2,3,7,8- Cl substituted PCDF and seven PCDD congeners is homogeneous: 90% of the variance among the samples is explained by 3 eigenvalues in a principal components analysis. The homogeneity of the data suggests that samples were affected by similar types of sources which may have been influenced by electric power generation, chemical waste incineration, and large-scale thermal production of chlorinated chemicals. Quantitatively, the 2,3,7,8-Cl substituted congener analysis does not account for 90% of the concentration of tetra- and penta-Cl homologues and 80% of hexa-Cl and 50% of hepta-Cl homologues. The World Health Organization stated during establishment of toxic equivalence factors (TEF, 2005 version) that calculation of toxic equivalents (TEQs) is not suitable for abiotic matrices, such as tree bark, which are not involved in human exposures. Our results show that the non-2,3,7,8-Cl substituted congeners have high concentrations and should be included in analysis.

Surface Electrostatic Potentials of Polychlorinated Dibenzofurans and Their Applications in Quantitative Structure-toxicity Relationships

Polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) represent an important kind of serious pollutant. They are highly toxic and persistent in environment. In this paper, geometrical optimizations and subsequent calculations of electrostatic potentials (ESPs) on molecular surface have been performed for all 135 PCDF congeners at the HF/6-31G* level. The effects of substitution value and variation of substitution position upon the surface ESPs have been discussed. A series of statistic-based structural descriptors derived from the surface ESPs have been calculated. For some PCDF congeners, linear relationships between aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) biding affinity and aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) induction potency as well as theoretical descriptors have been established by multiple linear regression method. It appears that the quantities derived from the surface ESPs, Vs,min, Vs , VS +, σ+ and Nvmin, 2 together with the molecular surface area and the energy gap between HOMO and LUMO can be well used to express the quantitative structure-toxicity relationships of PCDFs.

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans in flue gas emissions from municipal solid waste incinerators in China

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans （PCDD/Fs） emissions in flue gas from two types of municipal solid waste incinerators （MSWIs） most commonly used in China were investigated in this study. The selected incinerators include two grate-type MSWIs： MSWI-A （350 t/d） and MSWI-B 050 t/d）, and two fluidized bed MSWIs： MSWI-C （400 t/d） and MSWI-D （400 t/d）, which are all equipped with semi-dry lime scrubber and bag filter except MSWI-D equipped with cyclone and wet scrubber （WS） as air pollutant control device （APCD）. Results indicated that the emission concentration and the international toxic equivalents （I-TEQs） of the PCDD/Fs from the stacks were in the range of 1.210-10.273 ng/Nm^3 and 0.019-0.201 ng I-TEQ/Nm^3, respectively. They were greatly lower than the emission regulation standard of PCDD/Fs in China （1.0 ng I-TEQ/Nm^3）. However, only the PCDD/Fs emission level from MSWI-C was below 0.1 ng I-TEQ/Nm^3. Although the homologue profiles were distinct, the contributions of the 2,3,7,8-subsituted congeners to the total I-TEQ were similar among all the investigated MSWIs. Two major 2,3,7,8-substituted congeners, 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF and 1,2,3,7,8-PeCDD, account for 47% and 9% （average values） of the total I-TEQ values, respectively. The correlation between PCDD/Fs levels and composition of flue gas was also discussed.

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) in surface sediment and bivalve from the Changjiang Estuary, China

Surface sediments and bivalves were collected from the Changjiang Estuary in December 2003 and November 2004, respectively. Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) in these samples were measured with high-resolution chromatography (HRGC)/High Resolution Mass Spectrometer (HRMS). The concentrations of total PCDD/Fs and toxic equivalent (TEQ) were 169.83±119.63 and 0.81±0.36 pg/g dry weight (dw) in sediments, and 580.33±240.17 and 7.24±3.65 pg/g dw in bivalves. The homolog compositions of PCDD/Fs were similar among samples, the most abundant congener was octa-chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin (OCDD) and then octa-chlorinated dibenzofuran (OCDF) and 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-hepta-chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin (HpCDD). The herbicide pentachlorophenol (PCP) and sodium pentachlorophenol (Na-PCP) were proved the main source of PCDD/Fs in this area.

二噁英提取方法的比较

Labeled polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans(PCDD/Fs)were extracted by three different methods,i.e.,soxhlet extraction,hot extraction and accelerated solvent extraction(ASE).The PCDD/Fs were detected by high resolution gas chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry.Comparisons of the three methods were carried out by recovery of PCDD/Fs,solvent consumption and extraction time.The results showed that all of the method could extract labeled PCDD/Fs efficiently.ASE was a time saving procedure with lowest consumption of solvents compared with the other two methods.

土壤中二噁英的快速预处理及HRGC-HRMS分析

A rapid pretreatment method of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) in soil and analysis by high resolution gas chromatograph-high resolution mass spectrometry was present.The extraction and alumina clean up of PCDD/Fs in soil was achieved by accelerated solvent extractor.Then the multi-layer silica-gel column was used for further clean up.The whole method has been evaluated on certified reference soil and farm soil.Accuracy and precision of this method was tested with satisfactory results.

Estimation of n-Octanol/water Partition Coeffi-cients(lgK_(ow)) and the Aqueous Solubility(-lg_(Sw)) of all PCDF Congeners by Density Functional Theory

Optimized calculation of dibenzofuran （DF） and 135 polychlorinated dibenzofurans （PCDFs） was carried out at the B3LYP/6-31G＊ level in GAUSSIAN 98 program. Based on the theoretical linear solvation energy relationship （TLSER） model, the obtained structural parameters were taken as theoretical descriptors to establish the novel quantitative structureproperty relationship （QSPR） model for predicting n-octanol/water partition coefficients （lgKow） of PCDFs. The new model of lgKow achieved in this work contains three variables： energy of the highest occupied molecular orbital （EHOMO）, the most negative atomic partial charge （q^-） and average molecular polarizability （a）, of which R^2= 0.9011 and SD = 0,17 with larger t values. In addition, the variation inflation factors （VIF） of variables in the present model are all less than 5.5, suggesting high accuracy of the lgKow model. And the results of cross-validation test （q^2 = 0.8688） and method validation also show this model exhibits optimum stability and better predictive power than semi-empirical method. At the same time, it is found that the aqueous solubility （-lgSw） has high relative correlation with constant volume molar heat capacity （Cv^0）, of which R^2 = 0.9777 and SD = 0.22. Moreover, lgKow and -lgSw values of all PCDF congeners were predicted respectively.

Enhancing mechanisms of N-doped biomass carbon on the vanadium-based catalyst for furan degradation at low temperature

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans(PCDD/Fs)have attracted widespread concern due to their high toxicity,and their difficult manipulation in laboratories has made the research process tough.Thus,in our work,furan is selected as the model compound owing to the same structure of a central oxygenate ring.Although catalytic oxidation is regarded as an effective and applicable method for the abatement of PCDD/Fs,the synthesis of low-temperature catalysts is still a challenging problem in practical applications.Considering this situation,we prepared a novel V_(2)O_(5)/TiO_(2)catalyst modified with N-doped hierarchical porous carbon(NHPC)via a wet impregnation method.The V/T-1%NHPC catalyst could achieve expectant low-temperature performances with 50%furan conversion at 150℃and a complete conversion at 200℃,which decreased 23℃and 40℃compared to the V/T catalyst respectively.Moreover,the addition of NHPC presented lifting chemical stability during long-time test.The addition of NHPC in V/T catalysts decreased the formation of crystalline V_(2)O_(5) and increased the percentages of V^(5+)and O_(lat),which improved the utilization of vanadium ions and the catalytic activity.Simultaneously,the higher binding energy shift of O_(lat) implied more reaction possibility with other oxidise reactants.Importantly,this work proved the lifting catalytic activity by the interaction between catalysts and NHPC,and proposed the promoting effects of the N element.The results showed that the content of the pyridinic N and graphitic N in NHPC changed after combining with V/T catalyst,which played crucial roles in the excellent catalytic performance.Overall,this work provides comprehensive research of the V/T-1%NHPC catalyst toward furan oxidation at low temperature and explain the effects of N-doped biomass carbon in catalytic activity clearly,which gave a new thought to design low-temperature catalysts in PCDD/Fs degradation.Besides,the internal functional mechanisms of N species are worth further exploration in future studies.

Effect of different operation conditions on PCDD/F inhibition by ammonium dihydrogen phosphate:concentrations,distributions and mechanisms

Phosphorus-containing compounds are considered as the potential alternatives of traditional inhibitors for suppressing the formation of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans(PCDD/Fs),but the suppression characteristics are scarcely studied.In this study,ammonium dihydrogen phosphate(ADP)was selected as the inhibitor to inhibit the PCDD/F formation via de novo synthesis at 350℃.The influence of oxygen content and addition method on PCDD/F inhibition was systematically investigated by means of statistical analysis and morphological characterization.The results showed that oxygen enhanced the formation of PCDD/Fs from 1470 ng g^(−1)(9.78 ng I-TEQ g^(−1))to 2110 ng g^(−1)(14.8 ng I-TEQ g^(−1)).ADP significantly inhibited the PCDD/F formation,with inhibition efficiencies ranging from 82.0%to 97.7%.Herein,a higher oxygen content and the premixed way intensified the suppression effect.Dibenzo-p-dioxin(DD)/dibenzofuran(DF)chlorination was proven to be effectively suppressed while chlorophenol(CP)route was not obviously influenced.With the addition of ADP,Cl source was significantly reduced and the formation of organic Cl was effectively inhibited.Also,it decreased the proportion of C–O/C=N and C=O,revealing the efficient inhibition of carbon oxidation.Meanwhile,the formation of copper phosphate and copper pyrophosphate was observed in XPS(X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy)spectra,indicating that the catalytic metal Cu was chelated and passivated by ADP.The premixed way had a better effect on reducing Cl resources,inhibiting oxidation and chelating metals,due to the direct contact with inhibitor.However,the separation method could only depend on the decomposed gases,resulting in a lower inhibition efficiency.