Environmental issues of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are among the emerging contaminants that have been traced in almost all environmental compartments for the past 30 years. Their continued application as flame-retardant additives, persistence in nature due to fluorine groups, global atmospheric transport, and a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Critical reviews in environmental science and technology 2017-07, Vol.47 (13), p.1107-1142
Main Authors: Taheran, M., Komtchou, S., Lonappan, L., Naji, T., Brar, S. K., Cledon, M., Drogui, P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Additives
Analytical challenges
Biosolids
Cancer
Compartments
Congeners
Contaminants
Degradation
environment
Ethers
Flame retardants
Fluorine
Health problems
Human tissues
Oxidation
PBDEs
PCB
Photodegradation
Pollutants
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers
Polychlorinated biphenyls
Polymers
Retardants
Soil contamination
Solid wastes
Thyroid
Thyroid cancer
Tissues
Transport
treatment
Ultraviolet radiation
Wastewater treatment
Wastewater treatment plants
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Summary:Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are among the emerging contaminants that have been traced in almost all environmental compartments for the past 30 years. Their continued application as flame-retardant additives, persistence in nature due to fluorine groups, global atmospheric transport, and analytical challenges due to interferences and different properties of congeners indicate the urgent need of finding solutions to their use. The increasing level of PBDEs in the environment and especially human tissues is alarming due to their potential neurological effects, cancer proliferation, and thyroid hormone imbalance. Therefore, strict regulations need to be applied in all countries to control the PBDEs production consumption and disposal into the environment. Studies have shown that conventional wastewater treatment plants are unable to degrade PBDEs resulting in the transport of 60-90% of PBDEs to soil through biosolids application. On the other hand, advanced treatment processes, such as ultraviolet light, advanced oxidation, and photocatalytic degradation showed promising potential for removing PBDEs from wastewater (70-100% degradation efficiency). PBDEs can be replaced by natural flame retardants, such as nanoclay or new polymers, such as bishydroxydeoxybenzoin which have no environmental or health problems compared to PBDEs.
ISSN:1064-3389
1547-6537
DOI:10.1080/10643389.2017.1342520