Unintentional persistent organic pollutants in cremation process: Emissions, characteristics, and inventory

Rongrong Lei; Yunchen He; Wenbin Liu; Javid Hussain; Lijun Liu; Jinglei Han; Changliang Li; Yi Xing; Wei Su

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172495

Unintentional persistent organic pollutants in cremation process: Emissions, characteristics, and inventory

Sci Total Environ. 2024 Apr 20:929:172495. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172495. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Rongrong Lei¹, Yunchen He², Wenbin Liu³, Javid Hussain⁴, Lijun Liu⁵, Jinglei Han⁵, Changliang Li⁶, Yi Xing¹, Wei Su⁷

Affiliations

¹ School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, The University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China.
² College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China; Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
³ College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China; Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, UCAS, Hangzhou 310024, China. Electronic address: wbliu@ucas.ac.cn.
⁴ College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China; Department of Environmental Sciences, Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences, Quetta 87100, Pakistan.
⁵ South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Guangzhou 510655, China.
⁶ Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
⁷ School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, The University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China. Electronic address: suwei@ustb.edu.cn.

PMID: 38649056
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172495

Abstract

Pollutants produced by cremation furnaces have gradually caused concern because of the increasing rate of cremation around the world. In this study, the levels, patterns, and emission factors of unintentional persistent organic pollutants (UPOPs) from cremation were investigated. The toxic equivalent (TEQ) concentrations (11 % O₂ normalized) of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) in flue gas ranged from 0.036 to 22 ng TEQ/Nm³, while the levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) in flue gas samples ranged from 0.0023 to 1.2 ng TEQ/Nm³ and 0.17-44 pg TEQ/Nm³, respectively. The average concentrations of UPOPs in flue gas from car-type furnaces were higher than those from flat-panel furnaces. Secondary chambers and air pollution control devices were effective for controlling UPOPs emissions. However, heat exchangers were not as effective for reducing UPOPs emissions. It was observed that the UPOPs profiles exhibited dissimilarities between fly ash and flue gas samples. HxCDF, OCDD, and PeCDF were the dominant homologs of PCDD/Fs in flue gas, while HxCDF, PeCDF, and HpCDF were the dominant homologs in fly ash. The fractions of MoCBs and MoCNs in fly ash were higher than those in flue gas. Finally, we conducted an assessment of the global emissions of UPOPs from cremation in the years of 2019 and 2021. The total emission of UPOPs in 47 countries was estimated at 239 g TEQ in 2021, which was during the peak period of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. The emissions in 2021 increased by approximately 24 % compared to 2019, with the impact of COVID-19 being a significant factor that cannot be disregarded.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cremation; Flue gas and fly ash; Polychlorinated biphenyl; Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans; Polychlorinated naphthalene.