Tess Bonanno ’24
Variations in organophosphate ester concentrations in atmospheric particulate matter in Providence, RI
Tess Bonanno ’24, Chemistry major
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Adelaide Clark, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Poster Presentation: Wednesday, April 24, 1:30 – 3 p.m.
The World Health Organization (WHO) considers air pollution “one of the biggest environmental threats to human health”. Since organic chemicals can efficiently sorb to particulate matter (PM), the health effects associated with these chemicals must also be considered a hazard. Organophosphate esters (OPEs), which are a “reemerging” pollutant with a wide-range of uses in consumer products, including as a flame retardant (FR) and plasticizer, are one such “high production volume” chemical. Despite known and suspected health effects of OPEs, there is no international regulation in place for OPEs and studies of these chemicals in PM in the US are limited. Providence, RI is the third most populated city in New England while also being home to New England’s second largest deep-water port. It has been documented that urban centers are a significant source of OPEs and have been shown to be transported to coastal regions from other nearby cities. Filter-based samples of total suspended particulate (TSP) and PM2.5 have been collected in Providence, RI. Samples were extracted to determine the concentration of 33 OPEs (including 14 novel-OPEs) in an urban area as a function of size fraction, season, precipitation, and solar radiation. Comparison of partitioning between size fractions will allow for a better understanding of health-related exposures, since PM2.5 is the respirable fraction of PM.
