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 avera...