Desorption behaviors of BDE-28 and BDE-47 from natural soils with different organic carbon contents

Desorption kinetic and isothermal characteristics of BDE-28 and BDE-47 were investigated using natural soils with different organic carbon fractions. The results indicated that a two-compartment first-order model with dominant contribution of slow desorption could adequately describe the released kinetics of studied PBDEs. Desorption isotherms of different samples could be fitted well by linear distribution model or nonlinear Freundlich model. Moreover, most desorption procedures roughly exhibited hysteresis with respect to preceding sorption ones. At the statistically significant level of 0.05 or 0.1, total organic carbon content (fOC) exhibited significant correlations with the fitted parameters by the isothermal models. The correlations of fOC and SOM fractions (e.g., fulvic acid and humin) with the single point desorption coefficients at lower aqueous concentrations of studied PBDEs were significant; while at higher aqueous concentrations, the relationships were less significant or insignificant. Our findings may facilitate a comprehensive understanding on behaviors of PBDEs in soil systems.

► A two-compartment first-order kinetic model for the PBDEs studied was established. ► Isotherm was fitted well by a linear distribution or a nonlinear Freundlich model. ► Desorption commonly exhibited somewhat hysteresis relative to sorption. ► Soil organic carbon fractions showed close correlations with the model parameters.