Fate of organophosphate esters from the Northwestern Pacific to the Southern Ocean: Occurrence, distribution, and fugacity model simulation

Tengda Shi; Ruijing Li; Jie Fu; Chao Hou; Hui Gao; Guanjie Cheng; Haibo Zhang; Shuaichen Jin; Liang Kong; Guangshui Na

doi:10.1016/j.jes.2023.03.001

Fate of organophosphate esters from the Northwestern Pacific to the Southern Ocean: Occurrence, distribution, and fugacity model simulation

J Environ Sci (China). 2024 Mar:137:347-357. doi: 10.1016/j.jes.2023.03.001. Epub 2023 Mar 12.

Authors

Tengda Shi¹, Ruijing Li², Jie Fu³, Chao Hou⁴, Hui Gao², Guanjie Cheng¹, Haibo Zhang², Shuaichen Jin², Liang Kong⁵, Guangshui Na⁶

Affiliations

¹ College of Marine Technology and Environment, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian 116023, China; National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian 116023, China.
² National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian 116023, China.
³ National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian 116023, China; College of Marine Ecology and Environment, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China.
⁴ College of Marine Ecology and Environment, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China; NCS Testing Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing 10081, China.
⁵ College of Marine Technology and Environment, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian 116023, China.
⁶ Laboratory for coastal marine eco-environment process and carbon sink of Hainan province/Yazhou Bay Innovation Institute, Hainan Tropical Ocean University, Sanya 572022, China. Electronic address: nags@hntou.edu.cn.

PMID: 37980021
DOI: 10.1016/j.jes.2023.03.001

Abstract

Eleven organophosphate esters (OPEs) in the air and seawater were investigated from the northwestern Pacific Ocean to the Southern Ocean during the 2018 Chinese 34th Antarctic Scientific Expedition. The concentration of total OPEs ranged from 164.82 to 3501.79 pg/m³ in air and from 4.54 to 70.09 ng/L in seawater. Two halogenated OPEs, tri(chloropropyl) phosphate (TCPP) and tri (2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), were generally more abundant than the non-halogenated OPEs. A level III fugacity model was developed to simulate the transfer and fate of seven OPEs in the air and seawater regions of the central Ross Sea. The model results indicate that OPEs are transferred from the air to the seawater in the central Ross Sea in summer, during which the Ross Sea acts as a final OPE sink. Dry and wet deposition dominated the processes involving OPE transfer to seawater. The OPE degradation process was also found to be more pervasive in the atmosphere than in the seawater region. These findings highlights the importance of long-range transport of OPEs and their air-seawater interface behavior in the Antarctic.

Keywords: Antarctic; Fate; Fugacity model; Long-range transport; Organophosphate esters (OPEs).

MeSH terms

China
Environmental Monitoring* / methods
Esters / analysis
Flame Retardants* / analysis
Oceans and Seas
Organophosphates / analysis

Substances

Flame Retardants
Esters
Organophosphates