Determination and identification of flame retardants in soil collects from E-waste industries
and End of Life vehicles (ELV) from major cities of South India
Dr. Vimalkumar Krishnamoorthi, Research Scholar, Department of Environmental Biotechnology,
School of Environmental Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India

1. AimPolychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a group of commercially synthesized and widely used in numerous
industrial applications, such as chemical stability, high thermal conductivity, and electrical insulation
properties. PCBs are stable under extreme temperature and pressure. Hence, PCBs are used as additives indielectric fluids in transformers and capacitors, heat transfer fluids and hydraulic fluids in partially closedindustrial systems, furthermore, this can be used as additives in lubricants, casting waxes, surface coatings,
adhesives, plasticizers, and inks (UNEP, 1999; WHO, 2000; Erikson and Kaley II,2011).
Many literatures reported the variety of hazardous substances found in concerning levels in ELVs, in whichapproximately 90 million ELV units had been produced in all over the world in 2014 only (Niinipuu, 2013;
Korea Statistical Information Service, 2015). Among those variety of hazardous substances, PBDEs are
become great concern in international community, because of its persistence and toxicity in the environment(Gearhart and Posselt, 2006; Sakai et al.,2006; lagalante et al.,2011; Jiang and Li, 2016). PBDEs are used forvariety of manufactured products (foam, cushioning in furniture and plastics in television and computers).
Three of the PBDE commercial mixtures have been produced, like deca-BDE, octa-BDE and penta-BDE.
Deca BDDE is used as flame retardant in certain types of plastics, including electric products (vehicles,
airplanes and certain building materials). Penta BDE was used in polyurethane foam, furniture, mattresses,
carpet padding and automobile seats and Octa BDE was used in high impact plastics, such as fax machine,certain electric and electronic devices (telephones and kitchen appliances) (USEPA, 2010). Wide usage ofPCBs, PBDEs and PCDD/Fs consequence on the severe environmental pollution and affects the humanhealth, due to its persistence and bioaccumulative profile. Three major PBDEs are commercially used, likepenta (BDE-47, -99, and -100), octa- (BDDE-194 to BDE-205), and deca BDE (BDE-209 with minor
nanoBDE and octaBDE congener impurities).
Fast growing urbanization and motorization in developing and newly industrialized countries are generatinglarge volume of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) (Sakai et al.,2014). Likewise, waste electric and electronicequipments are recovered and reused in ELVs if the proper handling is followed. Many contaminants werereleased from the ELVs such as heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) (PCBs)halogenated/phosphorus flame retardants and organotin stabilizers in plastics and foams (Sakai et al.,2007;
Osada et al.,2008; Abdullah et al.,2008).
The present study has revealed to determine and quantify PCBs, PBDEs and their biotransformation products
in End of Life Vehicles soil samples from major cities of Tamil Nadu state in India. The current study was
focused on the levels of PCBs and PBDEs in soils from ELV sites and their distribution based on the activity
at particular site locations. Further, this study was noticed the levels of 56 PCB and 31 PBDEs congeners,
and their concentration range, maximum, and minimum level of PCBs at specific sites. Number of studies
are available on the PCB contamination in industrial area, urban area, rural area and e-waste recylcing sites(Chakraborty et al.,2016; Sohail et al.,2018; Wang et al.,2013; Tue et al.,2013). But this is the first report of
PCBs and PBDEs level in End of Life Vehicle sites in India specifically in South India (Tamil Nadu).

2. Objectives
 To collect the background data and main sources of PBDEs and PCBs in E-waste industry, and Endof Life Vehicles (ELVs).
 To find the distribution and concentration of PBDEs and PCBs in E-waste and End of Life Vehicles(ELV) in soils samples from various locations and also to find out the hotspots of PBDEs and PCBs
contaminated sites.

 To evaluate the PBDEs and PCBs using the already available data on environmental levels from thestudy area and the data to be obtained in this study.

3. Methodology for PBDEs and PCBs extraction in soil samples
Multilayer column preparation

Add 150 ml of 25%
DCM/Hexane

Gel permeation Chromatography (GPC)

Sample extract0.5-1g of Sodium sulfate (Na2SO4)
6g of 22% H2SO4 silica gel

Soil samples were collect from
ELV sites

2g of 44% H2SO4 silica gel
0.5g of deactivated silica gel

3g of 2% KOH silica gel

Soil samples are sieve toseparate the fine particles

0.5g of deactivated silica gel
0.5-1g of Sodium sulfate (Na2SO4)
Glass wool

Soil extracts has taken to
GPC to remove the otherorganic contaminants andseparate only the target
residues with DCM/Hexane(50:50)

Steel column preparation
After finish the GPC 150 mlof extracts condense to 1 ml
and keep for activated silica
gel column

Acetone/Hexane (1:1)

Sodium sulfate (Na2SO4)

Collect the sample extract

Soil sample from ELV
Sodium sulfate (Na2SO4)

Spike the internal standards (PBDEs,
PCBs, BDE 209 and HBCDs) at 5 ng
concentration in tubes

1st fraction of 5%
DCM/Hexane for
PBDEs & PCBs

2nd fraction 25%

Sample extract DCM/Hexane for

Na2SO4HBCDs

4g of Activated silica gel

Keep the steel column into
Accelerated Solvent Extractor(Mitsubishi) with 200ml of
Acetone and Hexane

After finish the extraction collectsample extract condense to 1 ml andtransfer to glass tubes then make it up
to 10 ml with Hexane

Na2SO4
Glass wool

Collect the two fraction
condense to 1 ml then transfer
10 ml glass tubes make it up
to 10 ml with hexane thanpass N2 through the extracts
until the 0.5 ml then add 1mlof isooctane. Concentrate till
50µl

4. Result and Discussion
4.1 Level of PBDEs in End of Life Vehicles (ELV) sites in Chennai, Coimbatore and Tiruchirappalli
Concentration of PBDEs in soil from ELV sites in Chennai, Coimbatore and Tiruchirappalli were shown in
Table 1. PBDEs concentration in Chennai was ranged from 9.4 to 160 ng/g dw, followed by Coimbatore(13.1- 565.2 ng/g dw) and Tiruchirappalli (39.5-162.2ng/g dw), respcetively. Higher PBDEs concentration
was found in Coimbatore (MP5) (Fig.2) ranged as 565.2 and 171.6 ng/g dw followed by Tiruchirappalli(TPJ1) (Fig.3) (162.2 ng/g dw) and Chennai (C3) (Fig.1) (160 ng/g dw). Scrabing of truck engines anddismandling consequence on the higher level of PBDEs at MP5and MP2, may due to engine oils had
released PBDEs at higher concantration. In Tiruchirappalli, tyre removal and storage site (TPJ1) was foundwith higher concantrationof PBDEs, PBDEs could be used in tyre to prevent from high temperature andsome kind of tyres were made up of tetiles to handle the tyre easily. The major sources of PBDEs inautomobiles are seat foam, rigid insulation, automobile trim, insulations, carpet foam pads, cable insulation,

textile coating, headliners and stereos. Hence, the automobile residues could releases large amount of PBDEs
in environment (Jeff Gearhart and Hans Posselt, 2006). In the present study, engine dismandling andscrabing sampling sites showed higher level of PBDEs than those of other ELV sites. The present study was
not corroborate with other research reports, because of lack of information about PBDEs released byautomobile engines.

ng/g d.w.

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

ELV C419.1 ng/g d.w.

ELV C5

BDE49
BDE71
BDE47
BDE79
BDE66
BDE77
BDE100
BDE119
BDE99
BDE118
BDE155
BDE154
BDE153
BDE139
BDE140
BDE138
BDE184
BDE183
BDE191
BDE180
BDE171
BDE201
BDE204
BDE197
BDE203
BDE196
BDE205
BDE208
BDE207
BDE206
BDE209ng/g d.w.

9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

132.2 ng/g d.w.

BDE49
BDE71
BDE47
BDE79
BDE66
BDE77
BDE100
BDE119
BDE99
BDE118
BDE155
BDE154
BDE153
BDE139
BDE140
BDE138
BDE184
BDE183
BDE191
BDE180
BDE171
BDE201
BDE204
BDE197
BDE203
BDE196
BDE205
BDE208
BDE207
BDE206
BDE20914.6 ng/g d.w.

BDE49
BDE71
BDE47
BDE79
BDE66
BDE77
BDE100
BDE119
BDE99
BDE118
BDE155
BDE154
BDE153
BDE139
BDE140
BDE138
BDE184
BDE183
BDE191
BDE180
BDE171
BDE201
BDE204
BDE197
BDE203
BDE196
BDE205
BDE208
BDE207
BDE206
BDE209ELV C2

ELV C3

BDE49
BDE71
BDE47
BDE79
BDE66
BDE77
BDE100
BDE119
BDE99
BDE118
BDE155
BDE154
BDE153
BDE139
BDE140
BDE138
BDE184
BDE183
BDE191
BDE180
BDE171
BDE201
BDE204
BDE197
BDE203
BDE196
BDE205
BDE208
BDE207
BDE206
BDE209123.3 ng/g d.w.

BDE49
BDE71
BDE47
BDE79
BDE66
BDE77
BDE100
BDE119
BDE99
BDE118
BDE155
BDE154
BDE153
BDE139
BDE140
BDE138
BDE184
BDE183
BDE191
BDE180
BDE171
BDE201
BDE204
BDE197
BDE203
BDE196
BDE205
BDE208
BDE207
BDE206
BDE209ng/g d.w.
ng/g d.w.

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

ng/g d.w.

Chennai

ELV C1
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

Fig.1 Levels of PBDEs in ELV sites from Chennai city, India
Choi et al.(2017) reported the PBDEs concentration in automobile shredded residues (218 to 2710 mg/kg),
seat fabrics (25158 to 65842 mg/kg) and other interior components such as interior light cover, floor cover,and headliner and seat belt (<1 to 10865 mg/kg). PBDEs could be released into the atmosphere in their life
cycle, for as approximately 627 ton of PBDEs fromautomobiles were enter into the domestic market throughmanufacturing (1743 ton), export (119 ton) and import (74 ton). An automobile in use stage had
approximately 7748 ton of PBDEs and at the final stage (ELVs) about 285 ton of PBDEs were generated. In
incineration approximately 208 ton of PBDEs were released from ELVs, 23 ton of PBDEs in ELVs were
emitted inenergy recovery and 16 ton were landfilled. A study conducted in Japan showed high PBDE
concentration in interior materails and cabin dust of ELVs results in saet fabrics had PBDEs ranged from

55000 to 78000 mg/kg, likewise seat foam had 52000 mg/kg of PBDEs and other interior components had
6600 to 8200 mg/kg of PBDEs (Kajiwara et al.,2014). The seat fabrics had the predominat level of PBDEs inmost of the studies (Choi et al.,2017). Niinipuu, (2013) reported the PBDEs in two samples (Sample A- 1400
mg/kg; Sample B- 570 mg/kg) from ELVs in Sweden.

10

ELV MP1

49.4 ng/g d.w.

Coimbatore
2.5

6
4

2

1.5
1
0.5

0

0

ELV MP2

BDE49
BDE71
BDE47
BDE79
BDE66
BDE77
BDE100
BDE119
BDE99
BDE118
BDE155
BDE154
BDE153
BDE139
BDE140
BDE138
BDE184
BDE183
BDE191
BDE180
BDE171
BDE201
BDE204
BDE197
BDE203
BDE196
BDE205
BDE208
BDE207
BDE206
BDE209

BDE49
BDE71
BDE47
BDE79
BDE66
BDE77
BDE100
BDE119
BDE99
BDE118
BDE155
BDE154
BDE153
BDE139
BDE140
BDE138
BDE184
BDE183
BDE191
BDE180
BDE171
BDE201
BDE204
BDE197
BDE203
BDE196
BDE205
BDE208
BDE207
BDE206
BDE20930

100.1 ng/g d.w.

25
20
15
10
5
BDE49
BDE71
BDE47
BDE79
BDE66
BDE77
BDE100
BDE119
BDE99
BDE118
BDE155
BDE154
BDE153
BDE139
BDE140
BDE138
BDE184
BDE183
BDE191
BDE180
BDE171
BDE201
BDE204
BDE197
BDE203
BDE196
BDE205
BDE208
BDE207
BDE206
BDE209030

ELV MP4

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

63.2 ng/g d.w.

BDE49
BDE71
BDE47
BDE79
BDE66
BDE77
BDE100
BDE119
BDE99
BDE118
BDE155
BDE154
BDE153
BDE139
BDE140
BDE138
BDE184
BDE183
BDE191
BDE180
BDE171
BDE201
BDE204
BDE197
BDE203
BDE196
BDE205
BDE208
BDE207
BDE206
BDE209ng/g d.w.

ng/g d.w.

ELV MP3

2
ng/g d.w.

ng/gd.w.

8

ELV MP5

460.5 ng/g d.w.

ng/g d.w.

25
20
15
10

5
BDE49
BDE71
BDE47
BDE79
BDE66
BDE77
BDE100
BDE119
BDE99
BDE118
BDE155
BDE154
BDE153
BDE139
BDE140
BDE138
BDE184
BDE183
BDE191
BDE180
BDE171
BDE201
BDE204
BDE197
BDE203
BDE196
BDE205
BDE208
BDE207
BDE206
BDE2090

Fig.2 Levels of PBDEs in ELV sites from Coimbatore (Mettupalayam (MP)), India
BDE-209 was found higher concentration at all sampling sites in Chennai (C3-132.2ng/g dw), Coimbatore(MP5-460.5 ng/g dw) and Tiruchirappalli (TPJ1-138.6 ng/g dw), respcetively. In Chennai, higher level of
BDE-209 was found at C3 (132.2ng/g dw) followed by C1(123.3ng/g dw); BDE-207 (7.69 ng/g dw) andBDE-206 (6.44ng/g dw) concentration was lower than the BDE-209. Likewise,in Coimbatore except
MP3(BDE-206-1.8 ng/g dw) and MP5 (BDE-207-26.8 ng/g dw) the other sampling sites (MP1- 2.4 ng/g dw;
MP2- 26.1 ng/g dw and MP4-8.4 ng/g dw) were found with higher BDE-99 concentration however this was
lower than that of BDE-209. BDE206 and BDE183 were higher in ELVs from Tiruchirappali, but not higher
than BDE-209. TPJ1 (6.5 ng/g dw) and TPJ2 (2.9 ng/g dw) sampling sites showed higher BDE-206

Table 1 Total concentration, Maximum, Minimum, Mean and median of PBDEs in ELV site soils from Tamil Nadu, India
LocationsChennai

Coimbatore

Sample sites

C1

C2

C3

C4

C5

MP1

MP2

MP3

MP4

MP5

TPJ1

TPJ2

TPJ3

TPJ4

ƩPBDEs(ng/g d.w.)
Maximum

141

19

160

25

9.4

58.2

171.6

13.1

98.7

565.2

162.2

50.7

60.9

39.5

123.4

14.6

132.6

19.1

8.2

49.5

100.2

2

63.2

460.5

138.6

34

30

11.5

Minimum

0.04

0.01

0.02

0.02

0.01

0.02

0.05

0.02

0.003

0.14

0.03

0.06

0.09

0.14

Mean±SD

7±27.4 1.2±3.7 10±32.7 1.4±4.4 0.7±2.3 2.8±10.7 6.9±20.2 0.5±0.5 3.3±11.5 24.6±95.3 7.7±30 2.7±7.6 2.3±5.6 1.4±2.3

Median

0.5

0.2

0.9

0.2

0.1

0.2

0.9

Tiruchirappalli

0.3

0.5

0.8

0.5

0.8

0.8

0.5

concentration and TPJ3 (5.6ng/g dw) and TPJ4 (5.7 ng/g dw) showed higher BDE-183 concentration next to BDE-209. BDE-209
waspredominatly used congener (>97%) than other congeners like nano-BDE (0.3-3%). Hence the dis tribution rate of BDE-209 was higher
compared to other PBDEs (Penta and octa-BDE) (UNEP, 2014). Debromination of higher brominated congeners results in lower brominatedcongeners like BDE-47, BDE-183 and BDE-154due to photolytic and thermal debromination.

Tiruchirappalli
138.5 ng/g d.w.

ELV tpj2

34 ng/g d.w.

ELV tpj3

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
BDE49
BDE71
BDE47
BDE79
BDE66
BDE77
BDE100
BDE119
BDE99
BDE118
BDE155
BDE154
BDE153
BDE139
BDE140
BDE138
BDE184
BDE183
BDE191
BDE180
BDE171
BDE201
BDE204
BDE197
BDE203
BDE196
BDE205
BDE208
BDE207
BDE206
BDE209ng/g d.w.

14

ELV tpj4

12
ng/g d.w.

10
8
6

4
2

BDE49
BDE71
BDE47
BDE79
BDE66
BDE77
BDE100
BDE119
BDE99
BDE118
BDE155
BDE154
BDE153
BDE139
BDE140
BDE138
BDE184
BDE183
BDE191
BDE180
BDE171
BDE201
BDE204
BDE197
BDE203
BDE196
BDE205
BDE208
BDE207
BDE206
BDE209

0
BDE49
BDE71
BDE47
BDE79
BDE66
BDE77
BDE100
BDE119
BDE99
BDE118
BDE155
BDE154
BDE153
BDE139
BDE140
BDE138
BDE184
BDE183
BDE191
BDE180
BDE171
BDE201
BDE204
BDE197
BDE203
BDE196
BDE205
BDE208
BDE207
BDE206
BDE209ng/g d.w.

5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0

ELV tpj1

BDE49
BDE71
BDE47
BDE79
BDE66
BDE77
BDE100
BDE119
BDE99
BDE118
BDE155
BDE154
BDE153
BDE139
BDE140
BDE138
BDE184
BDE183
BDE191
BDE180
BDE171
BDE201
BDE204
BDE197
BDE203
BDE196
BDE205
BDE208
BDE207
BDE206
BDE209ng/g d.w.

20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

Fig.3 Levels of PBDEs in ELV sites from Tiruchirappalli, India

4.2 Level of PCBs in End of Life Vehicles (ELV) sites in Chennai, Coimbatore and Tiruchirappalli
Concentration of PCBs in soil from Chennai, Coimbatore and Tiruchirappalli were given in Table 2. PCBs
concentration in Chennai was ranged from 61.9 to 5429.6 ng/g dw followed by Coimbatore (1.6- 18901ng/gdw) and Tiruchiruppalli (5.2-127.6ng/g dw), respectively. Higher concentration of PCBs was found at C3 in
Chennai, MP5 in Cimbatore and TPJ2 in Tiruchirappalli. PCBs are widely used in capacitors, electromagnets
and miscellanous electrical equipment, whereas dielectric fluids, hydraulic fluids, break fluid, igition coils
and lubricants used to avoid friction inengins. These could be the reason for the higher release of PCBs. The
Higher abundance of PCBs at MP5 (18901.4 ng/g dw) (truck engine scraping) may due to the presence of
PCB- containing materials like electrical capacitors and transforners. Moreover, some other sources also led
to higher amount of PCBs depend upon the PCB usage in closed system, and heat transfer fluids(transformers, capacitors, fluoroscent light ballasts) (60%), plasticizers (25%), hydraulic fluids andlubricants (10%) and miscellanous uses (5%). Followed to Coimbatore, Chennai C3 site had higher PCB
concantration, where truck engines were dismandled. Depend upon the activity the contamination level also
varied, like MP1 was detected lower PCB concentration because engine spares were stored other than thisELV site in tiruchirappalli had storing and dismandling the vehicle spares. Moreover, coating materials are
sources for lower PCB concentration.

Fig.4 Levels of PCBs in ELV site soils from Chennai, Coimbatore and Tiruchirappalli cities, India

PCBs concentration in floor dust from an informal ELC recycling site in northern Vietnam was ranged from 19 to 2200 ng/g (Takahashi etal.,2016). The author and colleages were found the major groups of PCB homologue profiles were PeCBs and HxCBs, which were found in house
dust from the urban site of Hanoi. PCBs were found in different dust samples collected from industrial, urban and rural areas, in this case industrail
and urban samples were detected with higher level of PCB concenration than that of rural areas. The reason behid this was samples collected nearto diesel engine manufacturing company, central area of the industrail park, comprising numerous factories could results in significantly higher
PCB concentration. In Hanoi (Urban area), the samples were collected from the city center with several automobile workshops, and road crossing
busy and chotic bus station (Anh et al.,2019). Higher PCB concentratio was reported in the street dusts in the surrounding of the e-waste recycling
facility (760-16000 ng/g) and industrail sites (3600-63000 ng/g) in Norh Rhine- Westphalia,Germany (Klees et al.,2017; Klees et al.,2015). These
reported concentratio was several order of magnitude higgher than the present study.

Table 2 Total concentration, Maximum, Minimum, Mean and median of PCBs in ELV site soils from Tamil Nadu, India
Locations
Sample sitesƩPCBs (ng/gd.w.)
Maximum
Minimum
Mean±SDMedianChennai
C1
C2

C3

C4

C5

Coimbatore
MP1
MP2

MP3

MP4

MP5

Tiruchirappalli
TPJ2
TPJ3

TPJ4

798.3

1243.95429.6

159.5

61.9

1.6

3.6

464.8

676.6

18901.4

127.6

6.3

5.2

123.5
0.1
23.5±37
4.4

228.8
0.1
31.1±47.7
171448.70.1
110.8±234.8
11.7

43.5
0.3
5.7±8.6
1.7

14.9
0.1
2.1±3.2
0.6

0.2
0.04
0.1±0.1
0.1

0.8
0.1
0.3±0.2
0.2

71.9
0.05
13.7±21.5
2.6

124.5
0.04
16.9±269.2

5043.30.5
385.7±817.5
40.9

30.7
0.2
4.4±6.6
1.2

0.8
0.3
0.5±0.20.4

1
0.2
0.5±0.3
0.5

The total detected PCBs congeners were 50 out of 56 in Chennai, followed by 51 samples out of 56 in Coimbatore and 20 out of 56 in
Tiruchirappalli. PCB-28 was detecd in all the sampling sites at higher concentration followed by PCB37, PCB70, and PCB52 in Chennai and
Coimbatore, respectively (Fig 1). This was corroborate with Anh et al.(2019), reported that PCB28 and PCB-52 were significantly more abundant
in industrial street dust from Thai Nguyen. Furthermore, PCB28 was the predominant compound inoutdoor dusts from Guangzhou and Hong
Kong, China (Wang et al.,2013). The possible source of PCB could be oil leakage in electric equipment and lubricating oils inmotor vehicles (Hoiet al.,2010; Toan et al.,2007). According to Cetin, (2016) and Chakraborty et al.(2016) the six lightly chlorinated congeners (PCB28, PCB52,

PCB44, PCB70, PCB49 and PCB74) were emitted from metallurgical plants in industrail area and the PCBs
were used inpaints, surface coatings and plastic additives. Hence, body panels, interior items and frames
could release lower level of PCBs.
The PCBs and PBDEs concentration were higher at MP5 sampling site in Coimbatore, the other sites showed
different pattern, whereas PCBs and PBDEs concentration were higher at C5 and C3 in chennai. In
tiruchirappalli, TPJ2 and TPJ1 showed higher PCBs and PBDEs concentration. Engine scrabing was the
major source for PCB and PBDEs contamination in soil from ELVs.
Table.3 Background activity of Soils samples in different ELV sites
S.No

ELV sites

Sample ID

Sources of scrapped vehincels

1
2
3

Chennai

CH1
CH2
CH3

Engine dismantle and dumped
Lorry engine dismantle and storage
Large types of truck engine dismantle and oil spilied
noticedBus engines was dismantle and spares was dumped
Bus and Van body scrapped and burned (soilcontained some ash)Bunk of car engines are stored
Car bodies are scraped and dumpped
Vehicle interior spares are dumped
Car bodies dismantle and storage
Truck engines are dismantled and scraped
Tyres are removed and dumped
Vehicle interior spares are dismantle
Alloy wheel dismantle and storage
Car engines are dismantled and scraped

4
5

CH4
CH5

6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Coimbatore

Tiruchirappalli

MP1
MP2
MP3
MP4
MP5
TPJ1
TPJ2
TPJ3
TPJ4

Date ofcollection
17.09.2018

26.08.2018

16.092018

5. List of publication and Conference presentation
5.1 Publications:
1. K. Vimalkumar, S. Sangeetha, A. Pugazhendhi (2019). Fate of Triclocarban (TCC) in aquatic andterrestrial systems and human exposure. Journal of Chemosphere 230 201-209(IF 5.108).
2. R. BabuRajendran, G. Preethi, R.K. Poopal, NishikantPatil Nikhil, K. Vimalkumar, A.
Subramanian, S. Krishna Kumar (2018). GC-MS determination of phthalate esters in human urine: apotential biomarker for phthalate bio-monitoring. Journal of Chromatography B 1079 15–24(IF2.813).
3. K.Vimalkumar,
E.
Arun,
S.Krishna
Kumar,R.K.
Poopal,N,
N,Patil.A.Subramanian,R.BabuRajendran(2018). Occurrence of triclocarban and benzotriazole

ultraviolet stabilizers in water, sediment, and fish from Indian rivers. Science of the Total
Environment625 1351–1360 (IF 5.589).
4. S. Srimurali, S.KrishnaKumar, S.Govindaraj, K.Vimalkumar, C.Paromita, R.Babu Rajendran(2017). Evaluating Spatial Distribution and Seasonal Variation of Phthalates Using Passive Air
Sampling in Southern India. Environmental Pollution 221 407-417 (IF 5.714).
5.2 Book Chapter:
1. Nikhil Nishikant Patil, S. Krishna Kumar, K. Vimalkumar, E.Arun, BabuRajendran, R.
Organochlorine pesticide contamination in the Kaveri (Cauvery) river, India: A review on
distribution profile, status, and trends. In: Water Challenges and Solutions on a Global Scale (Ed.
Satinder Ahuja), ACS Books, Washington, DC, 2015: 447p.
5.3 Presentation:
1. Vimalkumar K*, Tue Minh Nguyen, Shin Tanabe and Tatsuya Kunisue entitled Contaminationlevels of PCBs and PBDEs in fresh water fish from Chennai and Bangalore cities in India and their
toxicological risk. 39th International Symposium on Halogenated Persistent Organic Pollutants(DIOXIN 2019). (26th – 30th, August 2019) at Kyoto International Conference Center, Kyoto, Japan.
2. Babu Rajendran R, Vimalkumar K, Patil Nikhil Nishikant, Arun E and Poopal RK entitled
Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in Indian environment. 27th Symposium on Environmental
Chemistry. (22-25, May 2018) at Okinawa, Japan.
3. Vimalkumar K*, Srimurali S, Krishna Kumar S, Govindaraj S, Paromita C,
BabuRajendranRentitled Spatial Distribution and Seasonal Variation of Phthalates from atmospheric
air using Passive Air Sampler in Southern India. International conference on Biodiversity andSustainable Resource Management (ICBSRM 2018) (12th – 13th March, 2018) at Madras University,
Chennai.
4. Vimalkumar K*, E. Arun,S. Krishna Kumar, Nikhil NishikantPatil, RK. Poopal and R.
BabuRajendranentitled Determination of Triclocarban (TCC) and Benzotriazole UV stabilizers(BUVSs) in surface water from South Indian Rivers. 19th International Conference Symposium on“Pollutant Responses in Marine Organisms” (PRIMO 19). (30th July – 3rd June, 2017) at Ehime
University, Matsuyama, Japan.
5. Vimalkumar K*, E. Arun,S. Krishna Kumar, Nikhil NishikantPatil, RK. Poopal and R.
BabuRajendranentitled Toxicity of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles to the Asian common Toad
DuttaphrynusMelanostictus. 19th International Conference Symposium on “Pollutant Responses inMarine Organisms” (PRIMO 19). (30th July – 3rd June, 2017) at Ehime University, Matsuyama,
Japan.
6. Subramanian A, BabuRajendran R, Takafumi Matsushita, Vimalkumar K*, Tatsuya Kunisue andShinsuke Tanabe entitled PCDD/Fs, DL-PCBs and PBDEs in the dumping site soils ofTiruchirappalli town, South India. 19th International Conference Symposium on “Pollutant
Responses in Marine Organisms” (PRIMO 19). (30th July – 3rd June, 2017) at Ehime University,
Matsuyama, Japan.
7. Vimalkumar K*,Govindaraj, S. Krishna Kumar, S. Srimurali, Nikhil NishikantPatil, E. Arun and R.
BabuRajendranentitledNonsteroidalanti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in major rivers of Tamilnadu,
India. International Conference on “Recent Trends in Bioscience”. (07 th – 09th February, 2016) at
Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamilnadu, India.
8. Vimalkumar K*, Bhuvaneswari R, Govindraj S, Arun E and BabuRajendran R entitled Human andEnvironmental Risk Assessment of Organochlorine pesticides in Water and Fish from River Cauvery,
Tamilnadu. Two days workshop on “Micro pollutants in water and their hazards” (12th – 13th January,2015) at IIT, Madras, Tamil Nadu, India.
9. VimalkumarK*, Srimurali S, Krishna Kumar S, Govindaraj S, BabuRajendran R
entitledDetermination of PCDDs, PCDFs and dioxin like PCBs in bovine milks and ash samples byusing CALUX Assay in Tamilnadu, India. International Symposium on Halogenated PersistantOrganic Pollutants (IEEP-2014) (January 16-17 2014) at CSIR-NEERI, Nehru Marg, Nagpur,
Maharashtra, India.
10. Vimalkumar.K* present paper entitled “Study on effect of elevated CO2 on growth and nutrient
accumulation in important indigenous tree species” in International Symposium on Environmental
Risk Assessment at Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathiar University,
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India (17th – 19th October, 2011).
*Presenter