Spatial and temporal trends of melamine and its derivatives in sediment from Lake Shihwa, South Korea

Hongkai Zhu; Sunggyu Lee; Hyo-Bang Moon; Kurunthachalam Kannan

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.03.128

Spatial and temporal trends of melamine and its derivatives in sediment from Lake Shihwa, South Korea

J Hazard Mater. 2019 Jul 5:373:671-677. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.03.128. Epub 2019 Mar 30.

Authors

Hongkai Zhu¹, Sunggyu Lee², Hyo-Bang Moon², Kurunthachalam Kannan³

Affiliations

¹ Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, and Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, State University of New York at Albany, Empire State Plaza, P.O. Box 509, Albany, NY 12201-0509, United States.
² Department of Marine Science and Convergence Engineering, College of Science and Convergence Technology, Hanyang University, Ansan 15588, Republic of Korea.
³ Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, and Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, State University of New York at Albany, Empire State Plaza, P.O. Box 509, Albany, NY 12201-0509, United States; Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Science and Experimental Biochemistry Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: Kurunthachalam.Kannan@health.ny.gov.

PMID: 30954869
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.03.128

Abstract

Occurrence, spatial distribution, and temporal trends of melamine and its derivatives (ammeline, ammelide, and cyanuric acid) were investigated in surface sediment and two sediment cores collected from Lake Shihwa, South Korea. ∑Melamine (sum of melamine and its three derivatives) was found in all surface sediment samples at concentrations that ranged from 16.6 to 4390 ng/g dry weight (dw), with an average value of 202 ng/g dw. ∑Melamine concentrations exhibited a clear spatial gradient, in decreasing order, as: creeks (mean: 577 ng/g dw) > inshore locations (41.9 ng/g dw) > offshore locations (24.3 ng/g dw). ∑Melamine concentrations were notably high in sediment collected near wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) outfalls. Melamine was the most prevalent compound in sediment collected from creeks (87%) and WWTP outfall locations (48%), whereas cyanuric acid was the dominant compound in sediment from inshore (51%) and offshore (63%) locations. The historical profiles of ∑Melamine in sediment cores corresponded with coastal development and environmental changes in this region. This is the first study to document the occurrence and temporal distribution of melamine in sediment cores, and this information is useful in understanding the fate of these relatively less-studied chemicals in the environment.

Keywords: Cyanuric acid; Melamine; Sediment; Spatial distribution; Temporal trend.