Occurrence, Removal, and Environmental Emission of Organophosphate Flame Retardants/Plasticizers in a Wastewater Treatment Plant in New York State

The occurrence and fate of 14 triester organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) and plasticizers and their two diester metabolites were investigated in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in the Albany area of New York State. All target OPFRs were found in wastewater, with average concentrations that ranged from 20.1 ng/L for tris­(methylphenyl) phosphate (TMPP) to 30 100 ng/L for tris­(2-butoxyethyl)­phosphate (TBOEP) in influents and from 7.68 ng/L for TMPP to 12 600 ng/L for TBOEP in final effluents. TBOEP was the dominant compound in influents (max: 69 500 ng/L) followed in decreasing order by tris­(1-chloro-2-propyl)­phosphate (TCIPP; max: 14 500 ng/L), bis­(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl)­phosphate (BDCIPP; max: 4550 ng/L), tris­(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl)­phosphate (TDCIPP; max: 3150 ng/L) and tris­(2-chloroethyl)­phosphate (TCEP; max: 8450 ng/L). The fraction of TMPP sorbed to suspended particulate matter (SPM) was 56.4% of the total mass in wastewater, which was the highest among the target chemicals analyzed. The average concentrations of OPFRs in sludge were between 4.14 ng/g dw for tripropyl phosphate (TPP) and 7290 ng/g dw for TBOEP; for ash, they were between 2.17 ng/g dw for TMPP and 427 ng/g dw for triphenyl phosphate (TPhP). The mass loadings of OPFRs into the WWTP ranged from 0.02 mg/day/person for TPP to 28.7 mg/day/person for TBOEP, whereas the emission from the WWTP ranged from 0.01 mg/day/person for 2-ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate (EHDPP) to 5.12 mg/day/person for TCIPP. The removal efficiencies for OPFRs were slightly above 60% for TMPP, TBOEP, and tris­(2-ethylhexyl)­phosphate (TEHP) whereas those for other OPFRs were