Atmospheric fate and transport of dioxins - persistent organic pollutants

• Published in: Dioxin pp. 23 - 33
• Main Authors: Bajaj, Swati, Singh, Indrakant Kumar, Singh, Dileep Kumar
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: CRC Press 2020
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Electric Arc Furnaces; Antarctic Wildlife; Dioxin Pollution; Long Range Transport; POPs; CXCR4 Gene; TCDD; Sewage Sludge; Ng TEQ; OCDD; Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor; Dioxin Contamination; Air Water Partition Coefficient; Global DNA Hypermethylation; PCDFs; PCR Amplify 16S rRNA Gene; Gamma Hexachlorocyclohexane; Soil Contamination; Cold Habitats; Global Distillation; Wet Deposition; Steroid Receptor Coactivator; SRC-1
• ISBN: 9781138047242; 1138047244
• DOI: 10.1201/9781315170961-2

Environmental contamination with persistent organic pollutants (POPs) has gained huge attention of scientists due to their adverse effect to the biota and biosphere. Dioxins comprise polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and part of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). They are hydrophobic, lipophilic, and stable organic compounds and they can bioaccumulate from one trophic level to the next. This chapter encompasses the sources, atmospheric degradation, deposition pathways, and transportation of dioxins in various environmental compartments. Evidence based on sources of dioxins in the environment indicated that major proportions of the dioxins that are released are deposited into the air. Furthermore, pollution has taken its supremacy in untouched cold locations also, which are today believed as the absolute sink for several POPs due to global distillation and low temperature condensation.