Massive Emissions of a Broad Range of Emerging Hindered
Phenol Antioxidants and Sulfur Antioxidants from E‑Waste Recycling
in Urban Mining: New Insights into an Environmental Source
posted on 2021-12-15, 13:05authored byChunyou Zhu, Zibin Pan, Bibai Du, Bowen Liang, Yuqing He, Hui Chen, Liangying Liu, Lixi Zeng
To recognize new pollution caused
by synthetic antioxidants in
the environment, a wide range of 18 emerging hindered phenol antioxidants
(HPAs) and 6 emerging sulfur antioxidants (SAs) were investigated,
for the first time, through a dedicated target screening in representative
e-waste recycling indoor work environments. All 18 emerging HPAs and
6 emerging SAs were detected in 45 e-waste dust samples collected
from different categories of recycling workshops. Of the 24 detected
target antioxidants, 22 were first reported in e-waste dust and 9
were newly identified in the environment. Pentaerythritol tetrakis[3-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)] propionate (Irganox 1010),
octadecyl 3-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl) propionate
(Irganox 1076), and triethylene glycol bis(3-tert-butyl-4-hydroxy-5-methylphenyl) propionate (Irganox 245) were the
most abundant antioxidants, with median levels of 1560–4700
ng/g, comparable to or higher than those of other e-waste pollutants.
Significantly positive or negative correlations were observed among
these “novel” antioxidants, indicating that they have
similar or competitive uses in electronic products. Waste wires and
cables and waste electronic plastics were identified as the two main
sources of emission of HPAs to the indoor environments during e-waste
recycling. Our findings raise the need for further investigations
of the environmental behavior, fate, and risks of these widely used
but rarely evaluated “novel” antioxidants.