Pollution profiles and human health risk assessment of atmospheric organophosphorus esters in an e-waste dismantling park and its surrounding area

Recycling e-waste has been recognized as an important emission source of organophosphate triesters (tri-OPEs) and organophosphate diesters (di-OPEs), but the presence of di-OPEs in atmosphere has not been studied. Herein, tri-OPEs and di-OPEs in atmosphere of an e-waste dismantling park and surrounding area in South China were monitored for three consecutive years. Thirteen tri-OPEs and seven di-OPEs were identified. In 2017, 2018, and 2019, tri-OPE concentrations in e-waste dismantling park were 1.30 × 108, 4.60 × 106, and 4.01 × 107 pg/m3, while di-OPE concentrations were 1.14 × 103, 1.10 × 103, and 0.35 × 103 pg/m3, respectively, which were much higher than the surrounding area. Tri-OPEs and di-OPEs generated during e-waste dismantling affected surrounding area through diffusion. Triphenyl phosphate (TPhP) and diphenyl phosphate (DPhP) were the predominant congeners of tri-OPEs and di-OPEs, respectively. Additionally, TPhP concentration was extremely higher than other tri-OPEs, so TPhP could be used as an indicator of e-waste dismantling. Spearman correlation analysis showed significant correlations between DPhP and TPhP (R2 = 0.53, p < 0.01), bis-(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (BCIPP) and tris(2-chloropropyl) phosphate (TCIPP) (R2 = 0.49, p < 0.01), as well as dibutyl phosphate (DBP) and tributyl phosphate (TBP) (R2 = 0.53, p < 0.01), indicating that they had the same source. Further, non-carcinogenic risk of them to people via inhalation was acceptable and non-carcinogenic risk of tri-OPEs decreased year by year in surrounding area.