A Multimedia Fate Model to Support Chemical Management in China: A Case Study for Selected Trace Organics.
SESAMe v3.3, a spatially explicit multimedia fate model for China, is a tool suggested to support quantitative risk assessment for national scale chemical management. The key advantage over the previous version SESAMe v3.0 is consideration of spatially varied environmental pH. We evaluate the model performance using estimates of emission from total industry usage of three UV filters (benzophenone-3, octocrylene, and octyl methoxycinnamate) and three antimicrobials (triclosan, triclocarban, and climbazole). The model generally performs well for the six case study chemicals as shown by the comparison between predictions and measurements. The importance of accounting for chemical ionization is demonstrated with the fate and partitioning of both triclosan and climbazole sensitivity to environmental pH. The model predicts ionizable chemicals (triclosan, climbazole, benzophenone-3) to primarily partition into soils at steady state, despite hypothetically only being released to freshwaters, as a result of agricultural irrigation by freshwater. However, further model calibration is needed when more field data becomes available for soils and sediments and for larger areas of water. As an example, accounting for the effect of pH in the environmental risk assessment of triclosan, limited freshwater areas (0.03% or ca. 55 km(2)) in mainland China are modeled to exceed its conservative environmental no-effect threshold. SESAMe v3.3 can be used to support the development of chemical risk assessment methodologies with the spatial aspects of the model providing a guide to the identification regions of interest in which to focus monitoring campaigns or develop a refined risk assessment.
Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University , Lancaster LA1 4YQ, United Kingdom.
Ying
Y
Zhu
Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre, Unilever, Sharnbrook MK44 1LQ, United Kingdom.
Oliver R
OR
Price
Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre, Unilever, Sharnbrook MK44 1LQ, United Kingdom.
John
J
Kilgallon
Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre, Unilever, Sharnbrook MK44 1LQ, United Kingdom.
Cecilie
C
Rendal
Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University , Beijing 100871, China.
Shu
S
Tao
Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University , Lancaster LA1 4YQ, United Kingdom.
Kevin C
KC
Jones
Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University , Lancaster LA1 4YQ, United Kingdom.
Andrew J
AJ
Sweetman
D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005618:Fresh Water; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D019212:Multimedia; D012987:Soil; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
D012987:Soil; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical