title: Fate and transport modeling of phthalate esters from biosolid amended soil under corn cultivation.
abstract: Phthalate esters (PAEs) are prevalent in the environment due to the broad range of industrial, agriculture and domestic applications. The ubiquitous use of PAEs has resulted in their potential to reach groundwater sources through application of agri-chemicals and municipal biosolids. A study was conducted to monitor the fate and transport of seven commonly detected PAEs in the environment including: dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), bis(di-ethyl hexyl) phthalate (DEHP), di-n-octyl phthalate (DnOP), dipentyl phthalate (DPP), and di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP). Biosolids sourced from the Halifax Regional Municipality were applied at three rates on field-based lysimeter cells which were cropped to corn (Zea mays) for one growing season. In the present study, breakthrough curves (BTCs) were established for phthalates leaching from a corn-cultivated agricultural soil profile. The HYDRUS-1D model and a two-site sorption model were applied to predict transport parameters of PAEs using an inverse solution approach. Results of our research revealed that higher PAE adsorption was observed based on increasing carbon chain number. In addition, higher values of F (i.e. the fraction of type-1 sorption sites assumed to be in equilibrium with the solution phase) and lower values of D (i.e. dispersion coefficient) were observed for PAEs with large carbon chains which was validated both through the empirical dataset and the model simulations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran; Environmental & Life Sciences, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7B8, Canada.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sayyad
authors.affiliation: Department of Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, Nova Scotia B2N 5E3, Canada. Electronic address: gprice@dal.ca.
authors.forename: G W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Price
authors.affiliation: Canada Research Chair, Trent School of Environment, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7B8, Canada.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sharifi
authors.affiliation: Department of Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, Nova Scotia B2N 5E3, Canada.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Khosravi
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000379:methods*; D004952:Esters / Q000737:chemistry; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010795:Phthalic Acids / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D016062:Porosity; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D003313:Zea mays
chemical_list: D004952:Esters; D010795:Phthalic Acids; D012989:Soil Pollutants