{"title":"Ecological Risk Assessment of Organophosphate Flame Retardants in Rainwater Pipeline Sediments","authors":"Meiyuan Cao, Xuequan Chen, Zhenzhen Liu","doi":"10.1007/s11270-025-07807-4","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Organic phosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs) have garnered significant attention due to their recent emergence as contaminants with widespread distribution in aquatic environments, posing potential threats to humans and ecosystem health. Introduced into flame retardants and polymers through non-chemical bonds, OPFRs readily permeate the environment through volatilization, product wear, and leakage, increasing the risk of pollution in urban areas. This study employed a gas chromatography-mass spectrometer to quantitatively analyze the content and distribution characteristics of 12 typical OPFRs across 21 locations in Guangzhou’s main urban areas. The results reveal concentrations ranging from 0.191 to 0.950 μg/g (averaging 0.394 μg/g), indicating a moderate pollution level compared to road dust, rivers, lakes, estuarine sediment, and rainwater pipe sediment. Key OPFRs identified include tributoxyethyl phosphate (TBEP) and tricresyl phosphate, with TBEP exhibiting the highest concentration. Correlation studies suggested that OPFRs have point-source characteristics, while principal component analysis indicated that rainwater runoff, atmospheric settlement, and industrial and commercial sewage discharge as significant contributors to sediment OPFRs. Our findings emphasize the importance of implementing rain and sewage diversion systems in commercial districts and advocating regular sediment cleaning and transfer to sewage treatment plants. In addition, improving sewage treatment processes is essential for enhancing the removal efficiency of OPFRs and addressing their adverse impacts on the environment and human health.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":808,"journal":{"name":"Water, Air, & Soil Pollution","volume":"236 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Water, Air, & Soil Pollution","FirstCategoryId":"6","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11270-025-07807-4","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Organic phosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs) have garnered significant attention due to their recent emergence as contaminants with widespread distribution in aquatic environments, posing potential threats to humans and ecosystem health. Introduced into flame retardants and polymers through non-chemical bonds, OPFRs readily permeate the environment through volatilization, product wear, and leakage, increasing the risk of pollution in urban areas. This study employed a gas chromatography-mass spectrometer to quantitatively analyze the content and distribution characteristics of 12 typical OPFRs across 21 locations in Guangzhou’s main urban areas. The results reveal concentrations ranging from 0.191 to 0.950 μg/g (averaging 0.394 μg/g), indicating a moderate pollution level compared to road dust, rivers, lakes, estuarine sediment, and rainwater pipe sediment. Key OPFRs identified include tributoxyethyl phosphate (TBEP) and tricresyl phosphate, with TBEP exhibiting the highest concentration. Correlation studies suggested that OPFRs have point-source characteristics, while principal component analysis indicated that rainwater runoff, atmospheric settlement, and industrial and commercial sewage discharge as significant contributors to sediment OPFRs. Our findings emphasize the importance of implementing rain and sewage diversion systems in commercial districts and advocating regular sediment cleaning and transfer to sewage treatment plants. In addition, improving sewage treatment processes is essential for enhancing the removal efficiency of OPFRs and addressing their adverse impacts on the environment and human health.
期刊介绍：
Water, Air, & Soil Pollution is an international, interdisciplinary journal on all aspects of pollution and solutions to pollution in the biosphere. This includes chemical, physical and biological processes affecting flora, fauna, water, air and soil in relation to environmental pollution. Because of its scope, the subject areas are diverse and include all aspects of pollution sources, transport, deposition, accumulation, acid precipitation, atmospheric pollution, metals, aquatic pollution including marine pollution and ground water, waste water, pesticides, soil pollution, sewage, sediment pollution, forestry pollution, effects of pollutants on humans, vegetation, fish, aquatic species, micro-organisms, and animals, environmental and molecular toxicology applied to pollution research, biosensors, global and climate change, ecological implications of pollution and pollution models. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution also publishes manuscripts on novel methods used in the study of environmental pollutants, environmental toxicology, environmental biology, novel environmental engineering related to pollution, biodiversity as influenced by pollution, novel environmental biotechnology as applied to pollution (e.g. bioremediation), environmental modelling and biorestoration of polluted environments.
Articles should not be submitted that are of local interest only and do not advance international knowledge in environmental pollution and solutions to pollution. Articles that simply replicate known knowledge or techniques while researching a local pollution problem will normally be rejected without review. Submitted articles must have up-to-date references, employ the correct experimental replication and statistical analysis, where needed and contain a significant contribution to new knowledge. The publishing and editorial team sincerely appreciate your cooperation.
Water, Air, & Soil Pollution publishes research papers; review articles; mini-reviews; and book reviews.
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