Multimedia level-III partitioning and residence times of xenobiotics in water-rich and water-poor environments
The environmental fate of 10 compounds covering a wide range of intrinsic persistence and volatility is studied with a multimedia level-III fugacity model at two system temperatures (293 and 282 K) using water-rich and water-poor model environments and standard emission scenarios to air and water, respectively. The resultant level-III partitionings depend significantly on the entry mode and on the relative compartment sizes, and the variation with system temperature is more pronounced for polar compounds and when air is the primary discharge compartment. For example, the steady-state portion in soil of airborne phenol varies from 21 to 89%, whereas waterborne phenol resides in water at a rate of 100% in both water-rich and water-poor environments. For some compounds, the residence time (considering both advection and degradation) is substantially affected by intermedia transport processes such as rainfall. With airborne atrazine, the regional residence time is comparable to that of DDT and significantly greater than the ones of hexachlorobenzene, polychlorinated biphenyl 28, and lindane, although the latter have much longer media-specific half-lives and much greater hydrophobicity. The discussion includes detailed analyses of the compound properties and their impact on the level-III environmental fate.
- Research Organization:
- UFZ Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig (DE)
- OSTI ID:
- 20067681
- Journal Information:
- Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Vol. 19, Issue 5; Other Information: PBD: May 2000; ISSN 0730-7268
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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