Effects of storage temperature and duration on release of antimony and bisphenol A from polyethylene terephthalate drinking water bottles of China

• Release of Sb and BPA from PET drinking-water bottles was investigated.
• Higher temperature at 70 °C induced significant release of Sb and BPA.
• Release of Sb and BPA increased with storage duration up to 4 weeks.
• Chronic intake of Sb in one brand was 409 and 1430 ng/kg/d for adult and child, higher than RfD of 400 ng/kg/d.
• Values for BPA were 8.95 and 31.3 ng/kg/d, well below RfD of 5 μg/kg/d.

We investigated effects of storage temperature and duration on release of antimony (Sb) and bisphenol A (BPA) from 16 brands of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) drinking water bottles in China. After 1-week storage, Sb release increased from 1.88–8.32 ng/L at 4 °C, to 2.10–18.4 ng/L at 25 °C and to 20.3–2604 ng/L at 70 °C. The corresponding releases for BPA were less at 0.26–18.7, 0.62–22.6, and 2.89–38.9 ng/L. Both Sb and BPA release increased with storage duration up to 4-week, but their releasing rates decreased with storage time, indicating that Sb and BPA release from PET bottles may become stable under long term storage. Human health risk was evaluated based on the worst case, i.e., storage at 70 °C for 4-week. Chronic daily intake (CDI) caused by BPA release was below USEPA regulation, Sb release in one brand exceeded USEPA regulated CDI (400 ng/kg bw/d) with values of 409 and 1430 ng/kg bw/d for adult and children.

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