Examining the role of temperature and sediment–chemical contact time on desorption and bioavailability of sediment-associated tetrabromo diphenyl ether and benzo(a)pyrene

The effects of temperature and sediment–chemical contact time on desorption and bioaccumulation of sediment-spiked 14C-labelled 2,2′,4,4′-tetrabromo diphenyl ether (BDE-47) and benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) were examined. Experiments were performed after 2 or 6 weeks and 23 or 24 months sediment–chemical contact time at 10 and 20 °C. Desorption was measured in a sediment–water suspension using Tenax® extraction, and bioaccumulation was measured by exposing Lumbriculus variegatus (Oligochaeta) to BDE-47 and BaP-spiked sediments in a 10 d kinetic study. Biota–sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) ranged between 2.9 and 4.3 for BDE-47 and between 0.5 and 0.9 for BaP. Thus, temperature and aging had a minor effect on bioavailability estimates. On the other hand, the difference between the chemicals was clear and could not be interpreted solely by reference to the size of the desorbing fractions, although the rapidly desorbing fraction-revised estimate clearly reduced the difference. The remaining discrepancy may be related to methodological (Tenax extraction vs. worm exposure) and/or biological (digestive extraction) causes. However, the data support the role of diffusional forces in the bioavailability of sediment-associated organic contaminants. Therefore, desorption-revised bioavailability estimates would lead to more precise bioavailability estimates than the traditional sediment organic carbon-organisms’ lipids-based equilibrium partitioning approach.