Insight into the interaction of tetrabromobisphenol A with sediment-derived dissolved organic carbon in a multiphase system by direct immersion solid phase microextraction

Xiaohui Zhu; Liangzhong Li; Zhenyu Lu; Junyan Zhu; Lun Lu; Zhengdong Wang; Mingdeng Xiang; Guining Lu; Zhi Dang; Yunjiang Yu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169037

Insight into the interaction of tetrabromobisphenol A with sediment-derived dissolved organic carbon in a multiphase system by direct immersion solid phase microextraction

Sci Total Environ. 2024 Feb 20:912:169037. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169037. Epub 2023 Dec 4.

Authors

Xiaohui Zhu¹, Liangzhong Li², Zhenyu Lu³, Junyan Zhu², Lun Lu², Zhengdong Wang¹, Mingdeng Xiang², Guining Lu⁴, Zhi Dang⁴, Yunjiang Yu⁵

Affiliations

¹ State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Health Risk Assessment, South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Guangzhou 510655, PR China; School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, PR China.
² State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Health Risk Assessment, South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Guangzhou 510655, PR China.
³ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang 453003, PR China.
⁴ School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, PR China.
⁵ State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Health Risk Assessment, South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Guangzhou 510655, PR China. Electronic address: yuyunjiang@scies.org.

PMID: 38056667
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169037

Abstract

Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), a ubiquitously used commercial brominated flame retardant (BFR), has been widely detected in aquatic environments, and has aroused much attention due to its potential adverse effects on aquatic organisms. However, current research on the environmental fate and transport of TBBPA in the sediment-dissolved organic carbon (DOC)-water polyphase system is lacking. In this study, the sorption behavior of TBBPA in a water-DOC-sediment system was investigated using the direct-immersion solid-phase microextraction (DI-SPME) method, and the free dissolved concentration (C_w-SPME) and DOC adsorption concentration (C_DOC) of TBBPA in water were measured by applying this DI-SPME approach. In addition, the effects of pH, ionic strength, and soluble organic concentration on the adsorption of TBBPA in the multiphase system were evaluated. The adsorption kinetics experimental results show that the adsorption behavior of TBBPA on sediments conforms to a linear model, suggesting that it could be mainly absorbed by sediments. The solid-water partition coefficient (K_d) of TBBPA was artificially reduced 1.54 times using the traditional liquid-liquid extraction method because the sorption behavior of the DOC was ignored, which could be accurately corrected using the DI-SPME method. The logK_d and logK_OC of TBBPA in the multiphase system were 4.12 ± 0.25 and 6.48 ± 0.25, respectively. Finally, the interference experiment revealed that the sorption behavior of TBBPA was affected by the pH, ionic strength (calcium ion), and humic acid concentration, apart from the lead ion concentration itself.

Keywords: Brominated flame retardant; DI-SPME; Partition coefficient; Sorption behavior; Water–DOC–sediment.