Photodegradation of Lower Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether Congeners in Indoor Air – Model Studies

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are additive flame retardants which have found applications in polymers for many consumer plastic and electronic goods. Wide use of these chemicals has led to their extremely high concentrations in the indor environments. This paper presents an exploratory study of the photodebromination of five individual lower polybrominated diphenyl ether congeners (BDE-28, BDE-47, BDE-99, BDE-100 and BDE-101) irradiated with white light and different UV (A, B, C) light ranges. The capability of photodegradation of lower PBDEs under room lights was proven by the debromination which occurred with various effectiveness for the selected PBDE congeners and depended of light source. Almost all PBDE congeners showed the greatest decay when exposed to UV-C, with the exception of BDE-100. The decay of irradiated congeners occurred rapidly during the first 5 min of experiment. The final degradation varied from 38% decay (BDE-28, UV-C) to 94% (BDE-47, UV-C). These findings can help in predicting PBDE behavior in indoors and also be useful in the design of PBDE remediation processes.