title: Multi-year air monitoring of legacy and current-use brominated flame retardants in an urban center in northeastern China.
abstract: The occurrence and temporal trends of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and non-PBDE brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) were investigated in an urban atmosphere of Northeast China in consecutive six years (2008-2013). Among all chemicals, BDE-209, l,2,5,6,9,10-hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), and decabromodiphenylethane (DBDPE) were the three most dominant compounds. During the period, the levels of pentabromodiphenyl ethers in the gas-phase and octabromodiphenyl ethers in the particle-phase significantly decreased, while the levels of BDE-209 and NBFRs increased in either the gas-phase or particle-phase. Ambient temperature was the most significant variable that influenced the gas-phase and particle-phase concentrations of BFRs, followed by wind speed and relative humidity. A stronger temperature dependence of the atmospheric concentrations was found for lower mass BFRs. Gas-particle partitioning studies suggested PBDEs in the urban atmosphere of Northeast China were at steady-state. Steady-state equation can also well describe the partitioning behavior for NBFRs, suggesting that the atmospheric partitioning behaviors of NBFRs were similar to those of PBDEs.
authors.affiliation: International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS), State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
authors.forename: Wen-Long
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS), State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China; School of Environmental Science, Liaoning University, Shenyang 110036, China.
authors.forename: Chun-Yan
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Huo
authors.affiliation: International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS), State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China. Electronic address: ijrc_pts_paper@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Li-Yan
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS), State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
authors.forename: Wei-Wei
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS), State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
authors.forename: Zi-Feng
authors.initials: ZF
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS), State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China. Electronic address: mawanli002@163.com.
authors.forename: Wan-Li
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS), State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
authors.forename: Li-Na
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.affiliation: International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS), State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China; IJRC-PTS-NA, Toronto M2N 6X9, Canada; School of Environmental Science, Liaoning University, Shenyang 110036, China.
authors.forename: Yi-Fan
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D002681:China; D002947:Cities; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005411:Flame Retardants / Q000032:analysis*; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D005411:Flame Retardants; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers
keywords: Brominated flame retardants; Gas-particle partitioning; Meteorological condition; Northeast China; Temporal trends