Occurrence and Behavior of Brominated Flame Retardants in the Llobregat River Basin

Abstract

This chapter summarizes brominated flame retardant research in the Llobregat River basin. The work included the analysis of sediments and biota, with special attention on aspects such as occurrence, bioavailability, and bioaccumulation of these contaminants. The previous studies were focused only on the PBDE contamination issue; however, some emerging BFRs, such as HBB, PBEB, and DBDPE, were also included into the last works. For river sediment samples PBDE levels were between 2 and 10 ng/g dw, whereas coastal sediments showed higher concentrations, with values ranging between 25 and 134 ng/g dw. For both river and coastal sediments, the contribution of deca-BDE-209 on the total PBDE contamination was high, ranging between 50% and 99%. As regards biota samples, and more specifically, feral carps, PBDE levels ranged between 29 and 744 ng/g lw. Differences in PBDE profiles between sediments and fish were noticed, and they can be attributed to differential bioavailability or due to biotransformation processes. Finally, emerging BFRs were also detected in sediment samples, but at lower concentration levels than those observed for PBDEs. Graphical Abstract