Application of a purge and trap TDS-GC/MS procedure for the determination of emissions from flame retarded polymers

Formal waste treatment facilities as a source of halogenated flame retardants and organophosphate esters to the environment: A critical review with particular focus on outdoor air and soil

Extensive use of halogenated flame retardants (HFRs) and organophosphate esters (OPEs) has generated great concern about their adverse effects on environmental and ecological safety and human health. As well as emissions during use of products containing such chemicals, there are mounting concerns over emissions when such products reach the waste stream. Here, we review the available data on contamination with HFRs and OPEs arising from formal waste treatment facilities (including but not limited to e-waste recycling, landfill, and incinerators). Evidence of the transfer of HFRs and OPEs from products to the environment shows that it occurs via mechanisms such as: volatilisation, abrasion, and leaching. Higher contaminant vapour pressure, increased temperature, and elevated concentrations of HFRs and OPEs in products contribute greatly to their emissions to air, with highest emission rates usually observed in the early stages of test chamber experiments. Abrasion of particles and fibres from products is ubiquitous and likely to contribute to elevated FR concentrations in soil. Leaching to aqueous media of brominated FRs (BFRs) is likely to be a second-order process, with elevated dissolved humic matter and temperature of leaching fluids likely to facilitate such emissions. However, leaching characteristics of OPEs are less well-understood and require further investigation. Data on the occurrence of HFRs and OPEs in outdoor air and soil in the vicinity of formal e-waste treatment facilities suggests such facilities exert a considerable impact. Waste dumpsites and landfills constitute a potential source of HFRs and OPEs to soil, and improper management of waste disposal might also contribute to HFR contamination in ambient air. Current evidence suggests minimal impact of waste incineration plants on BFR contamination in outdoor air and soil, but further investigation is required to confirm this.

Polymeric brominated flame retardants: are they a relevant source of emerging brominated aromatic compounds in the environment?

A purge and trap method was used to study the release of brominated organic compounds from polymeric brominated flame retardants (BFRs), a relatively unknown class of flame retardant materials. Among the volatile brominated organics released, pentabromotoluene (PBTo), pentabromoethylbenzene (PBEB), and hexabromobenzene (HBB) were of particular interest because of their high potential to persist in the environment The impact of a thermal stress on the release of these compounds was assessed by applying different constant temperatures for one hour to a polymeric BFR sample. Release rates ranged between 22 +/- 2.1 ng g(-1) h(-1) for PBEB to 2480 +/- 500 ng g(-1) h(-1) for PBTo at room temperature. These rates of release reached 65 +/- 11 ng g(-1) h(-1) for PBEB and 42400 +/- 4700 ng g(-1) h(-1) for PBTo at 100 degrees C. This suggests that the compounding of thermoplastic polyesters done at high temperatures, up to 290 degrees C, could lead to the release of significant amounts of volatile brominated compounds in the environment when crude polymeric BFRs are used as flame retardants. To assess if this unsuspected source of volatile brominated compounds to the environment was relevant to support air concentrations in the Great Lakes area, air samples collected at Egbert (ON, Canada) were analyzed and PBTo, PBEB, and HBB were detected at low levels in some air samples (<0.01 to 0.09 pg/m3). As a second step, a Level III fugacity model was run using release rates of PBTo, PBEB, and HBB determined in this study. Results of the model indicated that prevailing PBEB and HBB air concentrations were not supported by their release from polymeric BFRs but by the use of these compounds as additive BFRs. However, these model predictions suffered from a lack of information on the actual use of polymeric BFRs. Hence, further work is needed to assess the release of potentially persistent brominated aromatic compounds from polymeric BFRs.

Supercritical fluid chromatography and two-dimensional supercritical fluid chromatography of polar car lubricant additives with neat CO2 as mobile phase

Car lubricant additives are added to mineral or synthetic base stocks to improve viscosity and resistance to oxidation of the lubricant and to limit wear of engines. Their total amount in the commercial lubricant varies from a few percents to 20-25%. As they belong to various chemical classes and are added to a very complex medium, the base stock, their detailed chromatographic analysis is very difficult and time consuming as it should involve sample treatment and preparative scale separations in order to simplify the sample. The aim of this work is to determine the feasibility of the separation of low molecular weight lubricant additives using various packed columns with pure CO(2) as a mobile phase to enable implementation of flame ionisation detection as universal detector. This is part of a hypernated system including more sophisticated specific detectors, such as AED, FTIR or MS to obtain detailed structural information of compounds. This paper is devoted to the comparison of some stationary phases supposed to provide hydrocarbon group type separation (silica and normal phase) or separations on alkyl-bonded silica in non-aqueous mode of some selected classes of additives in test mixtures or in base stocks. Adsorption chromatography allows partial separation of additives from the base stocks while the direct elution of test additives can only be obtained on reversed phase supports having a very efficient silanol group protection so the interaction of the more polar compounds is much reduced. A two-dimensional scheme of analysis is also described. It combines adsorption chromatography to separate most of the polar additives from the base stock and alkyl-bonded silica for more detailed separation of the additives. However, overlapping between groups of compounds and the lack of resolution between some additives and the base stock should be addressed by the implementing of selective detectors.

Characterization of shredded television scrap and implications for materials recovery

Characterization of TV scrap was carried out by using a variety of methods, such as chemical analysis, particle size and shape analysis, liberation degree analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, sink-float test, and IR spectrometry. A comparison of TV scrap, personal computer scrap, and printed circuit board scrap shows that the content of non-ferrous metals and precious metals in TV scrap is much lower than that in personal computer scrap or printed circuit board scrap. It is expected that recycling of TV scrap will not be cost-effective by utilizing conventional manual disassembly. The result of particle shape analysis indicates that the non-ferrous metal particles in TV scrap formed as a variety of shapes; it is much more heterogeneous than that of plastics and printed circuit boards. Furthermore, the separability of TV scrap using density-based techniques was evaluated by the sink-float test. The result demonstrates that a high recovery of copper could be obtained by using an effective gravity separation process. Identification of plastics shows that the major plastic in TV scrap is high impact polystyrene. Gravity separation of plastics may encounter some challenges in separation of plastics from TV scrap because of specific density variations.