Journal of Environmental Research

Estimation and comparison of brominated flame retardants levels based on dust loading and carbon contents in indoor dust

Joint Event on 5^th International Conference on Pollution Control and Sustainable Environment & 10^th Edition of International Conference on Water: Pollution, Treatment & Research
March 14-16, 2019 London, UK

Layla Salih Al Omran

University of Basrah, Iraq

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Environ Res

Abstract

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are synthetic chemicals added to a wide range of consumer products. Because they are used additively, they can transfer from such products into the environment. Evidence of their persistence and capacity for bioaccumulation has led to concerns about human exposure. Of the main exposure routes, indoor dust ingestion is a major pathway of exposure to such chemicals. It has been suggested that higher dust loadings will lead to dilute BFR concentrations in dust. On the other hand, as lipophilic compounds, BFRs are usually expected to sorb to dust particles with higher organic carbon contents. Thus, the study aims to test the hypothesis that any differences in BFR concentrations between different countries may attribute to differences in organic carbon content and dust loading. Thirteen BFR compounds were measured in 24 dust samples collected from Birmingham, UK and from Basrah, Iraq. With the exception of BDE-183 and BTBPE, average concentrations of BFRs in the UK dust samples were higher than those in Iraqi dust samples and significantly (P<0.05) higher for BDE-99, Σtri-hexa-BDEs, BDE-209, BEH-TEBP and ΣNBFRS. The organic carbon contents (TOC) of UK dust samples (26.2-56.1%) exceeded significantly (p<0.05) those of Iraqi dust samples (1.54-3.66%). In contrast, dust loading of Iraqi dust samples (1.05- 2.95 g/m2) exceeded significantly (p<0.05) those of UK dust samples (0.22-0.64 g/m2). Significant negative correlation was observed between log concentrations of BFRs and log dust loading for Iraqi dust samples and significant positive correlation was observed between log concentrations of BFRs and TOC for UK dust samples. Our findings in both UK and Iraqi dust samples revealed that, higher organic carbon contents and lower dust loading in UK dust samples could contribute to the higher concentrations of BFRs in the UK as compared with Iraq.

Biography

Layla Salih Al Omran has completed her PhD degree in 2016 in the field of Environmental Chemistry at University of Birmingham, UK, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Division of Environmental Health and Risk Management. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry, College of Science at University of Basrah, Iraq. Previously she worked at Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, College of Agriculture. She has more than 30 years of academic experience in the field of environmental chemistry and analytical chemistry.