Table 1.

Concentrations and estimated loads of BFRs in U.S. biosolids from the 2001 EPA’s national sewage sludge survey

Compounds	Detection limit (μg/kg)	Biosolids concentration (μg/kg) Avg. (Min, Max)	Detected Frequency (%)	Annual Load (kg/year)^a (Min-Max)
Compounds	Detection limit (μg/kg)	Biosolids concentration (μg/kg) Avg. (Min, Max)	Detected Frequency (%)	To biosolids	To land application	To incineration	To landfills

Polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs)

BDE-7	0.025	1.1 (0.2, 1.7)	100	5–7	3–4	1–1.3	1
BDE -8/11	0.029	0.2 (0.14, 0.4)	100	1–2	0.6–0.9	0.2–0.3	0.2
BDE -12/13	0.052	0.17 (0.07, 0.24)	60	0.9–1.1	0.4–0.6	0.1–0.2	0.1
BDE-15	0.010	2.6 (0.47, 7.7)	100	13–17	7–10	2–3	2.5
BDE-17/25	0.023	23.7 (8.9, 42.2)	100	121–152	60–91	24–30	20–26
BDE-28/33	0.027	13.4 (8.4, 18.6)	100	68–85	34–51	14–17	12–15
BDE-32	0.016	0.08 (0.04, 0.16)	100	0.4–1	0.2–0.3	0.1	<0.1
BDE-37	0.011	0.24 (0.16, 0.37)	100	1–2	0.6–0.9	0.2–0.3	0.2
BDE-47	0.055	789 (314, 1120)	100	4026–5052	2012–3031	805–1010	684–859
BDE-49	0.015	38.4 (7.7, 62)	100	196–246	98–148	39–49	33–42
BDE-51	0.015	2.9 (0.7, 5.1)	100	15–18	7–11	3–4	2.5–3
BDE-66	0.020	16.6 (5.7, 26.1)	100	85–106	42–63	17–21	14–18
BDE-71	0.016	9.3 (1.7, 17.8)	100	48–60	24–36	10–12	8–10
BDE-75	0.033	1.2 (0.3, 1.7)	100	6–7	3–4	1–1.5	1
BDE-77	0.016	0.06(0.05, 0.08)	80	0.3–0.4	0.1–0.2	<0.1	<0.1
BDE-85	0.009	37 (16.8, 51.9)	100	189–237	94–142	38–47	32–40
BDE-99	0.051	1004 (402, 1510)	100	5123–6429	2561–3858	1025–1286	871–1093
BDE-100	0.018	179 (75.3, 229)	100	913–1146	457–688	183–229	155–194
BDE-119/120	0.025	1.7 (1.2, 2.4)	100	9–11	4–7	1.5–2	1.5
BDE-138/166	0.032	15 (7.4, 20)	100	77–96	38–58	15–19	13–16
BDE-140	0.019	3.4 (1.7, 4.6)	100	17–22	9–13	3–4	3–4
BDE-153	0.012	103 (43.9, 138)	100	528–663	264–398	106–133	90–113
BDE-154	0.016	81.8 (34.3, 124)	100	417–523	209–314	83–105	71–89
BDE-155	0.013	4.5 (1.8, 6.6)	100	23–29	11–17	5–6	4–5
BDE-181	0.020	0.5 (0.1, 1)	100	2–3	1–2	0.5	0.4
BDE-183	0.010	14 (8.4, 20.5)	100	72–90	36–54	14–18	12–15
BDE-190	0.028	2 (0.9, 3.4)	100	10–13	5–7	2–2.5	2
BDE-203	0.040	26.8 (9.3, 59.2)	100	137–171	68–103	27–34	23–29
BDE-206	0.245	587 (149, 1420)	100	2992–3754	1496–2253	598–751	509–638
BDE-207	0.219	663 (157, 1430)	100	3381–4243	1690–2546	676–849	575–721
BDE-208	0.175	409 (112, 965)	100	2088–2620	1044–1572	418–524	355–445
BDE-209	2.470	5360 (1420, 14200)	100	27336–34304	13668–20582	5467–6861	4647–5832

Polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs)

PBB-101^b	0.005	4.7	-	24–30	12–18	4.8–6	4.1–5.1
PBB-153^b	0.005	49.1	-	250–314	125–189	50.1–62.9	42.6–53.4

Other BFRs

PBEB	0.0002	1.6 (0.77, 2.5)	100	8–10	4–6	1.6–2	1.5
HBB	0.001	0.5 (0.16, 1.3)	100	2–3	1–2	0.5	0.4
BTBPE	0.6	1964 (37.3, 9060)	100	10015–12568	5008–7541	2003–2514	1702–2137
DBDPE	4	485 (6.43, 1440)	60	2475–3105	1237–1863	495–621	421–528
alpha-HBCD^b	0.15	6.7	-	34–43	17–26	6.9–8.6	5.8–7.3
beta-HBCD^b	0.1	0.8	-	4–5	1.9–2.9	0.8–1	0.7–0.9
gamma-HBCD^b	0.14	12.3	-	63–79	31.4–47.2	12.6–15.8	10.7–13.4

Annual load values were calculated based on the estimated percentage of total sewage sludges use and disposal (50–60% to land application;17% to landfills; 20% to incineration). (NEBRA, 2007; Jones-Lepp and Stevens, 2007; National Research Council, 2002)

These compounds were analyzed in the mega-composite sample (mixture of composites 1 through 5) and hence minima and maxima values are not available.