Abstract
An investigative study on the occurrence of the unintentionally produced toxic and carcinogenic polychlorodibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorodibenzo furans (PCDFs) compounds was conducted in 11 bottom ash samples of hospital waste incinerators from three public hospitals in three distanced cities: Amman, Irbid, and Ma’an/Jordan. Total ash was sampled in the after burning chamber. The analysis was performed using a developed and validated GC/MS method in the selective ion monitoring (SIM) mode. ΣPCDD/Fs concentrations as international toxicity equivalence (TEQ) in individual samples in this study varied in the range of 206–476 pg I-TEQ/g with average value of 306 ± 88 pg I-TEQ/g and were found to be lower than the limit value (10,000 pg I-TEQ/g), where furans constituted a larger portion of the contamination compared to PCDDs to signature the de novo synthesis as major route in the incineration process. Limits of quantitation were between 0.015 and 0.10 ng/g with instrumental precision expressed as coefficients of variation of <15% and recoveries between 75.5 and 95.5%. Taking into consideration the incinerator bottom ash generation rate/batch/day and expressing the whole measured concentrations per year, the estimated amounts produced per year were in the range of 1.5 mg TEQ/year (Jameel Tutunji hospital) to 15.5 mg TEQ/year (King Abdullah hospital). These are sent daily or weekly to landfill- and dumping sites in each province which would pose serious future concentration accumulation of PCDD/Fs in these areas, transportation and adverse health effects.
Acknowledgements
The authors greatly acknowledge the Deanship for Academic Research at the University of Jordan for the financial support.
Disclosure statement
The authors have declared no conflict of interest.