Occurrence of chlorinated and brominated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from electric arc furnace for steelmaking

Lili Yang; Jia Shen; Minghui Zheng; Qiuting Yang; Da Li; Guorui Liu

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118663

Occurrence of chlorinated and brominated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from electric arc furnace for steelmaking

Environ Pollut. 2022 Feb 1:294:118663. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118663. Epub 2021 Dec 8.

Authors

Lili Yang¹, Jia Shen¹, Minghui Zheng², Qiuting Yang³, Da Li¹, Guorui Liu⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing, 100085, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing, 100085, China; College of Resource and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China; School of Environment, Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou, 310000, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing, 100085, China; College of Resource and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing, 100085, China; College of Resource and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China; School of Environment, Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou, 310000, China. Electronic address: grliu@rcees.ac.cn.

PMID: 34896218
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118663

Abstract

Chlorinated and brominated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (Cl/Br-PAHs) are persistent organic pollutants with potential carcinogenic toxicities that are even higher than those of their parent PAH congeners. Current knowledge of Cl/Br-PAH sources and emission characteristics is lacking. Electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking is a potential source for Cl/Br-PAHs, considering that preheating of raw materials before they enter the EAF could produce suitable conditions for Cl/Br-PAHs formation. In this field study, we identified EAFs as an important source of Cl/Br-PAHs and clarified their emission concentrations, fingerprints by gas chromatography coupled with high-resolution magnetic mass spectrometry. Potential formation mechanisms of Cl/Br-PAHs were also proposed. The mass concentration ranges for Σ₁₈Cl-PAHs and Σ₁₈Br-PAHs in stack gas were 25.85-4191 ng Nm^-3 and 1.02-341 ng Nm^-3, respectively. The variation of concentration indicated that the steel scrap composition greatly affected the production of Cl/Br-PAHs. The congener ratios including 6-chlorobenzo [a]pyrene/3-chlorofluoranthene and 1-chloroanthracene/1-chloropyrene could be used to estimate the influence of industrial sources on Cl-PAH occurrences in the air. Ring structure growth was the dominant formation pathway for Cl/Br-PAHs, distinctly different from dioxin formation mechanisms dominated by precursor dimerization and chlorination.

Keywords: Emission source; Formation mechanism; Halogenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon; Persistent organic pollutant; Steelmaking.

MeSH terms

Dioxins*
Environmental Monitoring
Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated* / analysis
Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins*
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons* / analysis

Substances

Dioxins
Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated
Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons