Distribution and chemical composition of phthalate esters in seawater and sediments in Quanzhou Bay, China.

Objective To study the distribution,chemical composition of phthalate esters in seawater and sediments in Quanzhou Bay,China and the significance in environmental science.Methods Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS) was applied to analyze 13 kinds of phthalate esters(PAEs) in the surface seawater samples(n=12) and sediment samples(n=20) in Quanzhou Bay,China,in the cruises of March 2009.Results The total concentration of 13 kinds of PEAs(∑PAEs) in surface seawater was in the range of 18.77-191.51 ng/L,with an average of 82.28 ng/L.DiBP,DEP and DEHP were dominating PAEs in surface seawater,which accounted for 71.15% of ∑PAEs.In the surface sediments,the ∑PAEs was in the range of 171.50-1 435.61 μg/g,with an average of 467.38 μg/g.The dominated species of PAEs in sediments were DEHP,DiBP and DnBP,which accounted for 99.02% of ∑PAEs.The concentrations of PAEs in the sediments of the Bay were higher in south bank than those in north bank,and higher in inner bay than those in outer bay as well.The results of principal component analysis(PCA) showed that pollution source and physicochemical properties should have important effects on the concentration of PAEs in sediments.Conclusion There are PAEs in the seawater and the sediment in Quanzhou Bay,China.Compared with the concentration of PAEs in other regions in the world,the concentrations of PAEs in seawater in Quanzhou Bay is lower.