Generalization of the MAFRAM Methodology for Semi-Volatile Organic Agro-Chemicals

• Published in: Water, air, and soil pollution Vol. 225; no. 1; pp. 1 - 12
• Main Authors: Batiha, Mohammad A, Al-Makhadmeh, Leema A, Batiha, Marwan M, Ramadan, Ashraf, Kadhum, Abdul Amir H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer-Verlag 2014; Springer Netherlands; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agricultural chemicals; Agricultural management; Agricultural practices; Agrochemicals; air; application rate; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Chemical contaminants; Chlorpyrifos; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Decision making; Earth and Environmental Science; emissions; Environment; environmental fate; Environmental impact; Environmental monitoring; Environmental studies; Enzyme inhibitors; Equilibrium; Hydrogeology; Methods; Multimedia; Organic chemicals; Pesticides; Pollutants; risk; Risk assessment; Soil erosion; Soil Science & Conservation; Toxicology; uncertainty; VOCs; Volatile organic compounds; Volatility; Volatilization; Water Quality/Water Pollution; Semi-volatile organic chemicals; Environmental fate prediction; Multimedia model; Ecotoxicological risk assessment; Model validation problems
• ISSN: 0049-6979; 1573-2932
• DOI: 10.1007/s11270-013-1789-5

A wide variety of semi-volatile organic chemicals (SVOCs) are still in use in agricultural practices. A proper understanding of the environmental fate and ecotoxicological risk associated with these compounds can aid decision making, particularly regarding product registration and licensing. The aim of this paper is to expand the use of a previously developed Multimedia Agricultural Fate and Risk Assessment Model (MAFRAM) to SVOCs by adopting the fugacity concept as a second criterion to the existing MAFRAM partitioning criterion (i.e., aquivalence). Volatilization processes from surface compartments into the atmosphere were also included. For example, the application of the generalized model was illustrated using an average annual application rate of 4.48 kg/ha of chlorpyrifos over a typical homogeneous region. Chlorpyrifos emissions were assumed to take place in three environmental compartments (i.e., soil, air, and aboveground plants) with fractions of 0.1, 0.3, and 0.6, respectively. The trends seen in the modeling results were in good agreement with the existing experimental data. Validation issues in MAFRAM were also discussed. Comprehensive experimental validation is unattainable because of the large scale of the areas covered, the lack of boundaries for the system considered, and the uncertainty in the input parameters.