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Temporal trends of decabromodiphenyl ether and emerging brominated flame retardants in dust, air and window surfaces of newly built low‐energy preschools
Author(s) -
Persson Josefin,
Wang Thanh,
Hagberg Jessika
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
indoor air
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.387
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1600-0668
pISSN - 0905-6947
DOI - 10.1111/ina.12528
Subject(s) - decabromodiphenyl ether , brominated flame retardant , environmental chemistry , environmental science , polybrominated diphenyl ethers , fire retardant , indoor air , chemistry , environmental engineering , pollutant , organic chemistry
The envelope of low‐energy buildings is generally constructed with significant amounts of plastics, sealants and insulation materials that are known to contain various chemical additives to improve specific functionalities. A commonly used group of additives are flame retardants to prevent the spread of fire. In this study, decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE‐209) and fourteen emerging brominated flame retardants (BFRs) were analyzed in indoor dust, air and on the window surface of newly built low‐energy preschools to study their occurrence and distribution. BDE‐209 and decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) were frequently detected in the indoor dust (BDE‐209: <4.1‐1200 ng/g, DBDPE: <2.2‐420 ng/g) and on window surfaces (BDE‐209: <1000‐20 000 pg/m 2 , DBDPE: <34‐5900 pg/m 2 ) while the other thirteen BFRs were found in low levels (dust: <0.0020‐5.2 ng/g, window surface: 0.0078‐35 pg/m 2 ). In addition, the detection frequencies of BFRs in the indoor air were low in all preschools. Interestingly, the dust levels of BDE‐209 and DBDPE were found to be lower in the environmentally certified low‐energy preschools, which could be attributed to stricter requirements on the chemical content in building materials and products. However, an increase of some BFR levels in dust was observed which could imply continuous emissions or introduction of new sources.