title: Decabrominated Diphenyl Ethers (BDE-209) in Chinese and Global Air: Levels, Gas/Particle Partitioning, and Long-Range Transport: Is Long-Range Transport of BDE-209 Really Governed by the Movement of Particles?
abstract: In this paper, we report air concentrations of BDE-209 in both gas- and particle-phases across China. The annual mean concentrations of BDE-209 were from below detection limit (BDL) to 77.0 pg·m-3in the gas-phase and 1.06-728 pg·m-3in the particle-phase. Among the nine PBDEs measured, BDE-209 is the dominant congener in Chinese atmosphere in both gas and particle phases. We predicted the partitioning behavior of BDE-209 in air using our newly developed steady state equation, and the results matched the monitoring data worldwide very well. It was found that the logarithm of the partition quotient of BDE-209 is a constant, and equal to -1.53 under the global ambient temperature range (from -50 to +50 °C). The gaseous fractions of BDE-209 in air depends on the concentration of total suspended particle (TSP). The most important conclusion derived from this study is that, BDE-209, like other semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs), cannot be sorbed entirely to atmospheric particles; and there is a significant amount of gaseous BDE-209 in global atmosphere, which is subject to long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT). Therefore, it is not surprising that BDE-209 can enter the Arctic through LRAT mainly by air transport rather than by particle movement. This is a significant advancement in understanding the global transport process and the pathways entering the Arctic for chemicals with low volatility and high octanol-air partition coefficients, such as BDE-209.
authors.affiliation: Arctic Environment Research Group, International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS-AERG), 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.
authors.forename: Yi-Fan
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8142-431X
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Arctic Environment Research Group, International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS-AERG), 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: Arctic Environment Research Group, International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS-AERG), State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology , Harbin 150090, China.
authors.forename: Nan-Qi
authors.initials: NQ
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Arctic Environment Research Group, International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS-AERG), 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.
authors.forename: Ed
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sverko
authors.affiliation: Trent University , Peterborough, ON. K9J 7B8, Canada.
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mackay
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ocean Sciences , Department of Fisheries and Oceans, P.O. Box 6000, Sidney, BC V8L 4B2, Canada.
authors.forename: Robie W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Macdonald
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants; D001272:Atmosphere; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005740:Gases; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D005740:Gases; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers