Monitoring of a wide range of organic micropollutants on the Portuguese coast using plastic resin pellets

We analyzed polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyl dichloroethane and its metabolites, hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and hopanes, in plastic resin pellets collected from nine locations along the Portuguese coast. Concentrations of a sum of 13 PCBs were one order of magnitude higher in two major cities (Porto: 307. ng/g-pellet; Lisboa: 273. ng/g-pellet) than in the seven rural sites. Lower chlorinated congeners were more abundant in the rural sites than in the cities, suggesting atmospheric dispersion. At most of the locations, PAH concentrations (sum of 33 PAH species) were ∼100 to ∼300. ng/g-pellet; however, three orders of magnitude higher concentrations of PAHs, with a petrogenic signature, were detected at a small city (Sines). Hopanes were detected in the pellets at all locations. This study demonstrated that multiple sample locations, including locations in both urban and remote areas, are necessary for country-scale pellet watch.This research was financially supported by Mitsui and Co. Ltd., Environment Fund for their financial support (Project R11-G4-1053) and Grants-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education and Culture of Japan (Project No. 22254001). We also appreciate to be supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal for their financial support through the project POIZON reference PTDC/MAR/102677/2008 and fellowship reference SFRH/BD/74772/2010.publishe