Chlorinated paraffins (CPs), complex mixtures of chlorinated alkanes, can be divided into short-chain chlorinated paraffins (C10–13), middle-chain chlorinated paraffins (C14–17) and long-chain chlorinated paraffins (C18–30) according to their carbon chain length. Short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) are considered global persistent organic pollutants (POPs) because they are toxic chemicals that can remain in the environment for long periods of time and migrate over long distances.In 2017, short-chain chlorinated paraffins were listed under the priority lists for persistent organic pollutants in the Stockholm Convention.As an important industrial raw material, chlorinated paraffins are widely used to make lubricants, plasticizers and flame retardants. Chlorinated paraffins will pollute the soil and the air after being released into the environment in the production and use processes. One of the important applications of chlorinated paraffins is the metalworking fluid. However, evaluating the potential health risks imposed by this fluid's application is quite difficult due to no reports on pollution caused by chlorinated paraffins discharged into the environmental media during the use of metalworking fluids.
To solve the above problems, Weng Jiyuan, a postgraduate student enrolled in 2020 from the School of Environment, Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study (HIAS), UCAS, recently published a paper in theEnvironmental Pollution, a CAS Zone 1 Journal with an impact factor of 8.071. This paper, entitled "Concentrations, homolog profiles, and risk assessment of short- and medium-chain chlorinated paraffins in soil around factories in a non-ferrous metal recycling park", was completed under the guidance of Researcher Gao Lirong. It is the first SCI research paper published by our postgraduate student enrolled in 2020.
With a large non-ferrous metal recycling park in China as the target, this research is the first to investigate chlorinated paraffin pollution in the environmental media around the metal processing factories. Probe into the concentrations, spatial distribution, sources and ecology of SCCPs and MCCPs in the soil around factories in the park and their risks to human health provides a scientific basis for controlling chlorinated paraffins in the metal processing industry.
This project received support from the National Key R&D Program and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
Figure 1. Concentrations of Chlorinated Paraffins in Soil Samples from Non-ferrous Metal Recycling Park
Grey and black bars represent the total concentration of SCCPs and MCCPs in soil.
Weng Jiyuan graduated from Sun Yat-sen University with a bachelor's degree and was admitted to the School of Environment in 2020 as a postgraduate student majoring in Resources and Environment. His master-degree supervisor is Researcher Gao Lirong and his research interest is environmental analysis. He has been a diligent and hardworking student since enrollment. Serious about learning courses, he has achieved excellent academic results. As an active participant in scientific research projects, he is mainly researching chlorinated paraffin pollution at present.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118456
Source/School of Environment
