Characterization and inventory of PCDD/F emissions from the ceramic industry in China.

The ceramic industry is considered to be a potential source of dioxins (polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), considering the widespread distribution of dioxins in kaolinitic clays. Nevertheless, studies on the emission of dioxins from the ceramic industry are still very scarce. In this study, raw clays and stack gases from six typical ceramic plants in China were collected and analyzed to estimate the emission of dioxins from the ceramic industry. Dioxin profiles in raw clays were characterized by the domination of the congener octachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (OCDD), and the contents of other congeners declined with the decreasing degree of chlorination. During the ceramic firing process, a considerable amount (16.5–25.1 wt % of the initial quantity in raw clays) of the dioxins was not destroyed and was released to the atmosphere. Dechlorination of OCDD generated a broad distribution within the PCDD congeners including a variety of non-2,3,7,8-substituted ones with the mass abundance ...