Occurrence, distribution and ecological risks of organophosphate esters and synthetic musks in sediments from the Hun River
Graphical abstract
Introduction
Liaohe River Basin (LRB), composing of Liao River and Daliaohe River system, is located in northeast of China and represents one of seven river basins in China. Hun River, one of the main tributaries of the Daliaohe River system, runs through several cities, including Fushun and Shenyang, and it receives water from the Pu River and Xi River, which are two of the seven main tributaries flowing into the Hun River. The Dahuofang Reservoir (DHF), the largest man-made lake in Liaoning Province, is situated mid-stream in the Hun River; it acts as the primary source of drinking water for surrounding cities, such as Fushun, Shenyang, Liaoyang and Anshan (Liu et al., 2015a, Liu et al., 2015b). There are major oil, chemical, metallurgical, pharmaceutical and machinery industries in the LRB and wastewater discharge from these industrial sectors causes severe pollution, including heavy metals and traditional persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organic chlorine pesticides (OCPs) (Liu et al., 2015a, Liu et al., 2015b, Gong et al., 2016, He et al., 2016, Zhu et al., 2017). Until recently, limited data was available on emerging organic pollutants, such as organophosphate esters (OPs) and synthetic musks (SMs).
The OPs are widely used flame retardants and/or plasticizers in various consumer products, such as electronic and electrical equipment, textiles, furniture, decorative materials, and building materials due to their excellent flame retardancy and flexibility. Market share has grown because of the ban/restriction on polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in recent years, resulting in their ubiquitous and increasing presence in the environment (Wei et al., 2015, Kim et al., 2017, Wang et al., 2017). Depending on the different substituent group, three sub-groups of OPs occur, chlorinated OPs, alkyl OPs, and aryl OPs, which exhibit different physicochemical properties, such as water solubility and Log Kow; these properties can affect their distribution and ultimate fate in the environment (Wei et al., 2015). It has been reported that OPs, especially chlorinated OPs, are more toxic and much more persistent than PBDEs (Hou et al., 2016, Greaves and Letcher, 2017).
The SMs, a group of artificial fragrance chemicals, are widely used in daily household products and cosmetics. There are three groups of SMs in use: macrocyclic musks, polycyclic musks and nitro musks. Among polycyclic musks there are two dominant components, galaxolide (HHCB) and tonalide (AHTN) (Wilkinson et al., 2017, Zeng et al., 2018). Many studies have shown that these artificial fragrances materials exhibit a diverse range of effects on freshwater organisms and humans, and they are recognized as ‘emerging pollutants’. Recently, Patel (2017) reviewed the published data on their toxicities and described synthetic fragrance chemicals as “wolves in sheep's clothing”.
Generally, OPs and SMs are discharged into receiving water via treated/untreated wastewater, and they have been identified as the most prevalent and most hazardous chemicals in effluents from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) (Díaz-Garduno et al., 2017, Krzeminski et al., 2017, Wang et al., 2018). In addition, due to their continuous discharge these compounds are frequently detected at elevated levels in aquatic environments affected by domestic and/or industrial wastewater (Lange et al., 2015, Kim et al., 2017, Wang and Kelly, 2017). In recent years, an increasing number of researchers have paid attention to their occurrence, distribution and ultra-fate, as well as their toxicity.
Little is known about the occurrence and levels of these emerging pollutants in the Hun River and Dahuofang Reservoir. The present study aimed to 1) study the occurrence and distribution of OPs and SMs in the Hun River, and try to locate their main emission sources, and 2) make a preliminary assessment of their potential ecological risk based on measured concentrations.
Section snippets
Chemical standards and reagents
Seven organophosphate ester flame retardants/plasticizers and nine synthetic musks were chosen as target analytes. The OPs standards were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA), including Tributyl phosphate (TNBP, 99%), Tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBEOP, 94%), Triphenyl phosphate (TPHP, 99%), Tris(methylphenyl) phosphate (TMPP, 90%), Tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP, 99.5%), Tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP) and Tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCIPP, 97%). The
Levels and distribution of OPs in sediment samples
The results indicated that the seven target OPs were ubiquitously found in the studied areas. Their levels and distribution in different river section and DHF are summarized in Table 1, and detailed information about their occurrence and distribution in each sampling location are given in Table S2.
As can be seen from these data, the seven target OPs were present at low levels in most of the UHR samples. In detail, TBP, TPHP, TMPP and two chlorinated OPs (TCEP and TCIPP) were detected in all the
Conclusion
In the present study, 40 sediment samples were collected from the Hun River and Dahuofang Reservoir, as well as from two main tributaries downstream of the Hun River, and analyzed for the occurrence and distribution of emerging pollutants, OPs and SMs. The findings indicated that OPs were ubiquitously distributed in the studied region, with the concentration of ∑7OPs varying significantly in the range of LOD-117 µg/kg. Four polycyclic musks (ADBI, AHMI, HHCB, and AHTN) were frequently detected
Acknowledgments
This work was financially supported by the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (QYZDJ-SSW-DQC018-02) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41373107, 41225013). We thank Y.K. Tian for her assistance with the instrumental analyses. This is contribution No. IS-2535 from GIGCAS.
References (46)
- et al.
Occurrence of synthetic musk fragrances in effluent and non-effluent impacted environments
Sci. Total Environ.
(2012) - et al.
Occurrence and risk assessment of organophosphorus and brominated flame retardants in the River Aire (UK)
Environ. Pollut.
(2013) - et al.
Environmental risk assessment of effluents as a whole emerging contaminant, efficiency of alternative tertiary treatments for wastewater depuration
Water Res.
(2017) - et al.
Long lasting perfume – a review of synthetic musks in WWTPs
J. Environ. Manag.
(2015) - et al.
Review of OPFRs in animals and humans: absorption, bioaccumulation, metabolism, and internal exposure research
Chemosphere
(2016) - et al.
Concentrations, distribution, and bioaccumulation of synthetic musks in the Haihe River of China
Chemosphere
(2011) - et al.
Occurrence and distribution of synthetic musks and organic UV filters from riverine and coastal sediments in the Pearl River estuary of China
Mar. Pollut. Bull.
(2016) - et al.
Occurrence of UV filters, fragrances and organophosphate flame retardants in municipal WWTP effluents and their removal during membrane post-treatment
J. Hazard. Mater.
(2017) - et al.
Occurrence and fate of synthetic musk fragrances in a small German river
J. Hazard. Mater.
(2015) - et al.
Comprehensive monitoring of synthetic musk compounds from freshwater to coastal environments in Korea: with consideration of ecological concerns and bioaccumulation
Sci. Total Environ.
(2014)
Fragrance compounds: the wolves in sheep's clothings
Med. Hypotheses
Chicago's sanitary and ship sanal sediment: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, brominated flame retardants, and organophosphate esters
Chemosphere
Distribution, mass inventories, and ecological risk assessment of legacy and emerging contaminants in sediments from the Pearl River Estuary in China
J. Hazard. Mater.
Occurrences of pharmaceuticals in drinking water sources of major river watersheds, China
Ecotoxiol. Environ. Saf.
Distribution of organophosphorus flame retardants in sediments from the Pearl River Delta in South China
Sci. Total Environ.
Occurrence and distribution of synthetic musks, triclosan and methyl triclosan in a tropical urban catchment: influence of land-use proximity, rainfall and physicochemical properties
Sci. Total Environ.
Spatial variations, source apportionment and potential ecological risks of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and synthetic musks in river sediments in Shanghai, China
Chemosphere
Organophosphorus flame retardants and plasticizers: sources, occurrence, toxicity and human exposure
Environ. Pollut.
Occurrence, fate and transformation of emerging contaminants in water: an overarching review of the field
Environ. Pollut.
Deposition behavior, risk assessment and source identification of heavy metals in reservoir sediments of Northeast China
Ecotoxiol. Environ. Saf.
Organophosphate esters in sediment of the great lakes
Environ. Sci. Technol.
Levels and distributions of organophosphate flame retardants and plasticizers in sediment from Taihu Lake, China
Environ. Toxicol. Chem.
Determination of synthetic musks in the sediment of the Taihu lake by using accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) and GC/MS
Int. J. Environ. Chem.
Cited by (36)
Synthetic musks in the natural environment: Sources, occurrence, concentration, and fate-A review of recent developments (2010–2023)
2024, Science of the Total EnvironmentCombined pollution characteristics and ecological risks of multi-pollutants in Poyang Lake
2024, Environmental PollutionEnvironmental occurrence and ecotoxicity of aquaculture-derived plastic leachates
2023, Journal of Hazardous MaterialsEffects of emerging contaminants and heavy metals on variation in bacterial communities in estuarine sediments
2022, Science of the Total Environment