<p>Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) has for many years been used in products to reduce their</p><p>flammability, mainly in electronic products, textiles and construction materials.</p><p>In 2003, Sweden imported 300 tons of brominated flame retardants.</p><p>Leakage of these compounds has polluted natural environments. Fishes has shown increased</p><p>contents of these substances, especially fat fish, since brominated flame retardants tends to</p><p>accumulate in fatty tissues.</p><p>They are also regarded as persistent and that gives them the ability to travel long distances.</p><p>What also is really scary is that increased levels of brominated flame retardants have been</p><p>detected in human breast milk.</p><p>The knowledge of the brominated flame retardants is limited and not so much research has been</p><p>done in this field. There are many reasons though, to keep the research going. Partly their</p><p>structural resemblance to well-known toxics as PCB, but also their ability to accumulate in</p><p>biological systems and enrich in food chains.</p><p>In which way they affect humans we really don’t know yet. Experiments on mice have been done</p><p>and behavioural disturbances were observed as well as a decrease in learning capacity.</p><p>The BRFs chosen for this study are hexabromocyclododecan (HBCD) and a polybrominated</p><p>diphenyl ether (PBDE) called pentabromodiphenylether (BDE 99).</p><p>About 25 % of the flame retardants produced in the world every year, consists of the brominated</p><p>ones. If we look at the PBDEs it’s mainly tetrabromodiphenylether (BDE 47),</p><p>pentabromodiphenylether (BDE 99), octabromodiphenylether (BDE 205) and</p><p>decabromodiphenylether (BDE 209) that are common flame retardants.</p><p>As from July 1st 2006, PBDE was forbidden in electric and electronic products (15).</p><p>January 1st 2007, a Swedish prohibition concerning the use of BDE-209 was established. BDE-</p><p>209 is not allowed on the Swedish market if the content of substance exceed 0,1 percent of weight</p><p>(23).</p><p>BDE-99 is classified as environmentally dangerous and a healthrisk. It´s not only toxic for</p><p>waterliving organisms but also for humans if exposed during a long time (19).</p><p>We shall develop a well functioning, reproducible and economic method to analyse HBCD and</p><p>PBDE in sediment. It includes extraction, cleanup and sample analyses with a ECD (electron</p><p>capture detector) equipped capillary gas chromatograph.</p><p>Several analyses of adequate diluted standards has been analysed in a GC-ECD to find suitable</p><p>temperature gradients. Then we produced spiked sediment samples with known amounts of</p><p>standards. To homogenize the spiked samples we used a mixer. As a first step in the extraction we</p><p>used acetone as a solvent. Then we used cyclohexane and NaCl (2%) to separate the nonpolar and</p><p>polar substances from each other. Cleanup with concentrated sulphuric acid was done and for</p><p>some samples we also used Florisil. To concentrate the extract it was evaporated with N2(g).The</p><p>extract was then analysed in a GC-ECD and then the results was compared with the standards.</p><p>The result of this project showed that our method of extraction is useful. We managed to extract</p><p>50 % HBCD, 30 % BDE-99 and 60 % BDE-99 (dried sediment).</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA/oai:DiVA.org:hh-870 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Sundvall, Börje, Johansson, Linda |
| Publisher | Halmstad University, School of Business and Engineering (SET), Halmstad University, School of Business and Engineering (SET), Högskolan i Halmstad/Sektionen för Ekonomi och Teknik (SET) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, text |
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