PCDD/Fs in soil and air and their possible sources in the vicinity of municipal solid waste incinerators in northeastern China

Abstract Fly ash, flue gas, ambient air, and soil samples were collected to investigate concentrations, profiles, gas–particle partitioning, and air–soil exchange of polychlorinated dibenzo- p -dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) in the vicinity of two municipal solid waste incinerators (MSWIs) in Harbin in northeastern China. The PCDD/F concentrations were 11 600–12 300 pg g −1 (597–615 pg WHO-TEQ g −1 ) in fly ash and 873–1120 fg m −3 (51.2–61.9 fg WHO-TEQ m −3 ) in air. The results of gas–particle partitioning possibly indicated the equilibrium state of PCDD/F during sampling period. For soil samples, both Enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay (ELISA) and high-resolution gas chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC/HRMS) were used. Significant correlations between the results from these two methods indicated that both methods are useful for PCDD/Fs analysis in soil. PCDD/Fs concentrations in soil samples ranged from 17.2 to 157 pg g −1 (0.59–8.81 pg WHO-TEQ g −1 ). Both Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) suggested the sources of the emission from MSWIs and the historical emission from a petroleum refinery to PCDD/Fs in adjacent soils. The air–soil exchange analysis showed a net flux of PCDD/F from air to soil at all soil-sampling sites.