A new empirical equation for the gas/particle partitioning of OPFRs in ambient atmosphere

Environ Sci Process Impacts. 2024 Dec 17. doi: 10.1039/d4em00531g. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

Gas/particle (G/P) partitioning is a core process governing the atmospheric transport of organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs). However, accurately predicting the G/P partition performance of OPFRs remains a challenge. In this study, four independent models were employed to estimate the characteristics of OPFR G/P partitioning within the octanol-air partition coefficient range of 4.7 (TMP) to 14.2 (TMPP). The results showed that in the maximum partition domain, the Li-Ma-Yang steady-state model fitted the best, with 85.2% of the predicted G/P partition quotient (log KP) values within an acceptable deviation range of ±1 log units for OPFRs. Accordingly, no significant deviations were observed between the predicted (0.56 ± 0.32) and monitored (0.52 ± 0.11) values of the average particle-bound fraction (φP) for the Li-Ma-Yang model in the maximum partition domain. Large deviations were observed between the monitored values and predicted log KP values by these four models in the equilibrium domain. Several factors responsible for the significant deviations observed in G/P partitioning values of OPFRs were discussed. These identified factors were used to develop a new empirical equation, which substantially improved log KP predictions for OPFRs to 75.8% in the equilibrium domain.