Determination of brominated flame retardants in Jukskei River catchment area in Gauteng, South Africa

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are considered to be environmental pollutants due to their toxicity, persistence and ubiquity in the environment. Little information is known about the presence of brominated flame retardants in South Africa's water systems. Therefore, this study examined and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water science and technology 2012-01, Vol.65 (4), p.743-749
Main Authors: Olukunle, O I, Okonkwo, O J, Kefeni, K K, Lupankwa, M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acetone
Acidification
Animals
Bromination
Catchment area
Catchment areas
Chemical Fractionation - methods
Chemical industry
Congeners
Detection
Dichloromethane
Dilution
Dry weight
Environmental Pollutants - analysis
Ethers
Flame retardants
Flame Retardants - analysis
Gels
Geologic Sediments - chemistry
Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers - analysis
Humans
Liquid-liquid extraction
Molecular Structure
n-Hexane
PCB
Pipettes
Pollutants
Polybrominated biphenyls
Polybrominated Biphenyls - analysis
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers
Polychlorinated biphenyls
Recovery
River catchments
Rivers
Rivers - chemistry
Sediment
Sediments
Silica
Silica gel
Silicon dioxide
South Africa
Toxicity
Ultrasonic testing
Water
Water analysis
Water sampling
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Summary:Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are considered to be environmental pollutants due to their toxicity, persistence and ubiquity in the environment. Little information is known about the presence of brominated flame retardants in South Africa's water systems. Therefore, this study examined and compared different extraction methods (liquid-liquid (LL) vs. solid phase (SP) for water, Soxhlet extraction (SE) vs. ultrasonic for sediment) for extraction efficiencies in the determination of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) in water and sediment from Jukskei River. Clean-up of sample extracts was performed using disposable Pasteur pipettes containing neutral, acidified and basic silica gel. Final extracts, after concentration and dilution to 200 μL were analyzed by injecting 1 μL in the GC-ECD and GC-MS. Results obtained showed good recoveries for most of the tested analytes in water; for LLE, values ranged between 80.5 ± 10.22% and 126.6 ± 1.94%; SPE, 70.41 ± 2.01%-124.78 ± 3.78% (n = 3) and for sediment (73-114%, with an RSD
ISSN:0273-1223
1996-9732
DOI:10.2166/wst.2012.894