Prediction of fate of selected priority pollutants considering their transformation products using in-silico methods

Download
2020
Barlas, Nezahat Gülücük
As the number of chemicals used in commerce is continuously increasing, the task of evaluating the fate of chemicals along with their impacts on the environment becomes challenging. In this study, fourteen priority pollutants, namely, aclonifen, alachlor, atrazine, BDE-153, bifenox, chlorfenvinphos, chlorpyrifos, DEHP, dicofol, diuron, hexachlorobutadiene, pentachlorobenzene, trichloromethane, and trifluralin as well as p,p’-DDT as an impurity of dicofol, were selected among the 45 priority pollutants regulated by the European Union (EU). Selection of chemicals was made based on abundance of literature studies, availability of kinetic data, as well as compatibility with modeling tools. Then, experimentally verified degradation products of each selected chemical were found from the literature. A total of 45 transformation products (TPs) were compiled, with the aim of investigating their contribution to the persistence of the parent compound and their individual tendency to distribute into the environment. Selected chemicals were evaluated according to how they distribute into the environment depending on mode-of-entry. Additionally, the primary persistence (PP) of each parent compound was determined to understand the effect of PP on joint persistence (JP). In-silico or computational methods offer simple, affordable, and safe quantitative chemical evaluation with respect to chemical distribution, fate, and persistence by introducing, physicochemical properties, degradation half-lives, and emission amount. EPI SuiteTM v4.11, June 2017 was employed for chemical-specific physicochemical property estimation in this study, whenever experimental data was unavailable. An evaluative multimedia (MM) model, namely, the Equilibrium Criterion (EQC) model Level III was used to evaluate the persistency and environmental distribution of selected priority pollutants and their TPs. PP is the ratio of the amount of parent compound at a steady-state to its initial emitted amount. Persistence evaluation could not be satisfactory if only persistence of a parent compound, namely, PP is considered. This is because parent compounds convert into their TPs. These TPs pose secondary persistence (SP), so PP and SP are added to obtain JP for a substance family. Ratio between JP and PP indicates the influence of TPs on persistence of a parent compound. As the number of TPs increases, JP will increase. In addition to the number of TPs, persistence of TPs, namely SP of TPs have a considerable effect on JP. For hexachlorobutadiene and aclonifen, presence of their TPs does not have a significant contribution to JP. That’s why JP/PP for hexachlorobutadiene and aclonifen is 1.3 and 1.4, respectively. On the other hand, this ratio is 105 and 12 for trichloromethane and dicofol, respectively. These high ratios demonstrate a high contribution of TPs on the joint persistence for trichloromethane and dicofol families. Lastly, the input media to which chemical is introduced in other words mode-of-entry of chemicals as well as half-life in a dominant medium are shown to have the highest impact on all types of persistence (i.e. PP, SP, JP).

Suggestions

Determination of the optimum loading strategies for monochloro-, trichloro-, and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acids to anaerobic cultures
GÜVEN, ENGİN; Bayramoğlu, Tuba Hande; Demirer, Göksel Niyazi (2000-01-01)
With respect to their adverse health and environmental effects, halogenated organic compounds (HOCs) are among the most important priority pollutants. HOCs cannot be easily biodegraded. However. if suitable microbial cultures are acclimated to these compounds properly, and the optimum operating conditions are achieved, HOCs can be removed with biological methods. Recently, great interest has focused on reductive anaerobic dehalogenation for the removal of these compounds. This process yields lower halogenat...
Future Mangrove Carbon Storage Under Climate Change and Deforestation
Chatting, Mark; Al-Maslamani, Ibrahim; Walton, Mark; Skov, Martin W.; Kennedy, Hilary; Hüsrevoğlu, Yusuf Sinan; Le Vay, Lewis (2022-02-01)
Mangroves are important sinks of organic carbon (C) and there is significant interest in their use for greenhouse gas emissions mitigation. Adverse impacts on organic carbon storage potential from future climate change and deforestation would devalue such ambitions, thus global projections of future change remains a priority research area. We modeled the effects of climate change on future C stocks and soil sequestration rates (CSR) under two climate scenarios ("business as usual": SSP245 and high-emissions...
Evaluation of Organochlorine Pesticides (OCPs) and Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) Concentrations in the River and Marine Sediments of Samsun Coastline
Dinc, Burak; Avaz, Gulsen; Canli, Oltan; Guzel, Baris; EREN, BEYTULLAH; Yetiş, Ülkü (2021-03-01)
Today, the persistent organic pollutant loads which are formed as a result of modern agriculture and industrial production are becoming very dangerous for the environment and human health. Exposure of living things to these pollutants can occur by direct exposure to pollutants emission or by transport of pollutants as a result of food chain and meteorological events. For this reason, all environmental samples should be analyzed in this context and risk assessments should be made especially for regions where...
An Energy and Economic Comparison of Building Envelope Types in Ankara
Shorbagı, Mustafa Ibrahım; Çakmaklı, Ayşem Berrin (null; 2015-05-30)
One aim of sustainable design may be, “to protect important resources such as energy from depletion and the reduction of the release of poisonous gasses, such as CO2 , to the atmosphere”. For this purpose, buildings which are a major cause of energy resource wastage must be designed in such a way to avoid such energy losses. In developing countries like Turkey, where much energy is exported to satisfy her needs, necessary methods of energy reduction were required. Thus regulations such as the TS 825 (Turkis...
Determination of unit nutrient loads for different land uses in wet periods through modelling and optimization for a semi-arid region
Özcan, Zeynep; Kentel Erdoğan, Elçin; Alp, Emre (2016-09-01)
Diffuse pollution abatement has been a challenge for decision-makers because of the intermittent nature and difficulty of identifying impacts of non-point sources. Depending on the degree of complexity of the system processes and constraints related to time, budget and human resources, variety of tools are used in diffuse pollution management. Decision-makers prefer to use rough estimates that require limited time and budget, in the preliminary assessment of diffuse pollution. The unit pollution load method...
Citation Formats
N. G. Barlas, “Prediction of fate of selected priority pollutants considering their transformation products using in-silico methods,” Thesis (M.S.) -- Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences. Environmental Engineering., Middle East Technical University, 2020.