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Modeling primary and secondary fractionation effects and atmospheric transport of polychlorinated biphenyls through single-source emissions

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Abstract

The Chinese Gridded Industrial Pollutants Emission and Residue Model (ChnGIPERM) was used to investigate potential fractionation effects and atmospheric transport of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) derived from single-source emissions in China. Modeling the indicative PCBs (CB28, CB101, CB153, and CB180) revealed spatiotemporal trends in atmospheric transport, gas/particle partitioning, and primary and secondary fractionation effects. These included the inference that the Westerlies and East Asian monsoons affect atmospheric transport patterns of PCBs by influencing the atmospheric transport time (ATT). In this study, dispersion pathways with long ATTs in winter tended to have short ones in summer and vice versa. The modeled partitioning of PCB congeners between gas and particles was mainly controlled by temperature, which can further influence the ATT. The potential for primary and secondary fractionation was explored by means of numerical simulations with single-source emissions. Within ChnGIPERM, these phenomena were mainly controlled by the temperature and soil organic carbon content. The secondary fractionation of PCBs is a slow process, with model results suggesting a timescale of several decades.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51779047), the University Nursing Program for Young Scholars with Creative Talents in Heilongjiang Province (UNPYSCT-2016001), and the Startup Foundation of Heilongjiang Postdoctoral Fellows (LBH-Q17010). Valuable comments from anonymous reviewers and editor are highly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS), School of Water Conservancy and Civil Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, Heilongjiang, China

    Song Cui & Qiang Fu

  2. IJRC-PTS, State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, Heilongjiang, China

    Song Cui & Yi-Fan Li

  3. Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, 264003, Shandong, China

    Chongguo Tian

  4. The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen, AB15 8QH, UK

    Zulin Zhang & Rupert Hough

  5. Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, **’an Jiaotong University, **’an, 710049, China

    Zhenxing Shen

  6. College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Bei**g, 100871, China

    Jianmin Ma

  7. State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Bei**g, 100012, China

    Lihui An

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  1. Song Cui
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Cui, S., Fu, Q., Tian, C. et al. Modeling primary and secondary fractionation effects and atmospheric transport of polychlorinated biphenyls through single-source emissions. Environ Geochem Health 41, 1939–1951 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-019-00252-3

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