TY - JOUR
T1 - Organic contaminants formed during fire extinguishing using different firefighting methods assessed by nontarget analysis
AU - Dubocq, Florian
AU - Bjurlid, Filip
AU - Ydstal, Danielle
AU - Titaley, Ivan A.
AU - Reiner, Eric
AU - Wang, Thanh
AU - Almirall, Xavier Ortiz
AU - Karrman, Anna
N1 - © 2020 The Authors.
PY - 2020/10
Y1 - 2020/10
N2 - During a fire event, potentially hazardous chemicals are formed from the combustion of burning materials and are released to the surrounding environment, both via gas and soot particles. The aim of this investigation was to study if firefighting techniques influence the emission of chemicals in gas phase and soot particles. Five full-scale fire tests were extinguished using four different firefighting techniques. A nontarget chemical analysis approach showed that important contaminants in gas and soot separating the different tests were brominated flame retardants (BERs), organophosphate flame retardants (OPFR), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and linear hydrocarbons. Reproducibility was evaluated by a field replicate test and it was determined that the temperature curve during the event had a bigger impact on the released chemicals than the firefighting technique used. However, despite fire intensity being a confounding factor, multivariate statistics concluded that water mist with additive resulted in less BFR emissions compared to foam extinguishing. The analysis also showed that the conventional spray nozzle method released more PAHs compared with the water mist method. The comprehensive chemical analysis of gas and soot released during fire events was able to show that different firefighting techniques influenced the release of chemicals. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
AB - During a fire event, potentially hazardous chemicals are formed from the combustion of burning materials and are released to the surrounding environment, both via gas and soot particles. The aim of this investigation was to study if firefighting techniques influence the emission of chemicals in gas phase and soot particles. Five full-scale fire tests were extinguished using four different firefighting techniques. A nontarget chemical analysis approach showed that important contaminants in gas and soot separating the different tests were brominated flame retardants (BERs), organophosphate flame retardants (OPFR), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and linear hydrocarbons. Reproducibility was evaluated by a field replicate test and it was determined that the temperature curve during the event had a bigger impact on the released chemicals than the firefighting technique used. However, despite fire intensity being a confounding factor, multivariate statistics concluded that water mist with additive resulted in less BFR emissions compared to foam extinguishing. The analysis also showed that the conventional spray nozzle method released more PAHs compared with the water mist method. The comprehensive chemical analysis of gas and soot released during fire events was able to show that different firefighting techniques influenced the release of chemicals. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
KW - Chemical emission
KW - Controlled fire events
KW - Extinguishing methods
KW - High resolution mass spectrometry
KW - Mass defect plot
UR - https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=pure_univeritat_ramon_llull&SrcAuth=WosAPI&KeyUT=WOS:000558886200061&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=WOS
UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85085172417&origin=inward
U2 - 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114834
DO - 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114834
M3 - Article
C2 - 32454383
SN - 0269-7491
VL - 265
JO - Environmental Pollution
JF - Environmental Pollution
IS - Part A
M1 - 114834
ER -