Novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) have gradually become BFR substitutes with increasing global production (100,000 to 180,000 tons/year, 2019). The global restriction or phasing out of legacy BFRs causes the increasing market demand for flame retardants, thus inevitably leading to an increase in the use of their alternatives. Further, HBCDs and the deca-BDE were added to the Stockholm Convention in 20, respectively. However, since the toxic properties (persistence, bio-accumulation, etc.) of BFRs have been well-documented, penta-BDEs and octa-BDEs were regarded as persistent organic pollutants and were listed in the Stockholm Convention in 2009. BFRs dominated the organic flame-retardant market in the past 30 years. Although the dust concentrations and daily intakes of NBFRs were still lower than those of other emerging pollutants (e.g., organophosphate and nitrogenous flame retardants) measured in the same sampling set, the elevated levels of NBFRs suggested the progressive BFR replacement process in China, which deserves more attention regarding their adverse effects on both the environment and human health.īrominated flame retardants (BFRs) such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDs) are widely used in a variety of daily products including plastics, textiles, furniture, building materials, and electronics to reduce fire risk by interfering with the burning process of polymers. Moreover, the total estimated daily intakes (average scenario) of NBFRs were calculated at 2.64 × 10 −2 ng/kg bw/d and 2.91× 10 −2 ng/kg bw/d for the male and female dismantling workers, respectively, via dust ingestion, inhalation, and dermal contact pathways, which were lower than the reference dose values, and thus indicated a limited human exposure risk for NBFRs at the current level. NBFRs might originate from plastic and rubber materials in wastes based on the correlation and principal component analysis. The bis(2-ethylhexyl)-3,4,5,6-tetrabromo-phthalate (BEHTBP) was the predominant compound, which contributed 66.0–88.0% of measured NBFR concentrations. Differently, the highest median concentration of HBCDs was found in dust from the dismantling workshop for cellphones and computers (367 ng/g) among studied areas. The dust concentration of NBFRs in e-waste-dismantling workshops (median, 157–169 ng/g) was found to be significantly higher than those in an outdoor environment (17.3 ng/g) ( p < 0.01). In this study, six NBFRs and the legacy BFRs, hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs), were analyzed in 50 dust samples from an e-waste-dismantling workplace in Central China. However, information on the contamination status and human exposure risks of electronic waste (e-waste)-derived NBFRs in the e-waste workplace is limited. Novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) have been widely used as alternatives to legacy BFRs.
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