Developed a faster and more precise technic for dioxin quantification

Cristina G. Pedraz/DICYT According to the World Health Organization (WHO), dioxins are a group of persistent toxic chemical compounds (named PBT) which may be found in the environment all around the world and that accumulate in food chain, mainly in animals’ fat tissue. Its high toxicity may produce different health problems in human beings like reproduction difficulties and fetal development, affect the immune system or interfere with hormones causing cancer.

The most effective measures to avoid or reduce human exposure are the ones adopted in its origin, that is, the establishment of a rigorous control in industrial processes in order to reduce to the limit dioxin creation. In this sense, European legislation limits dioxin emission and demands data collection in atmosphere, in water (sediments) and in land, as well as its presence in food and animal feed.

Nowadays, dioxin concentrations are measured in picograms or parts per trillion (ppt) and one of the objectives of European Union is to increase consumer protection by developing new measurement methods to control the compliance of rules, among other measures.

The researchers of LIFE Dioxdetector project work in this line. The project, whose objective is to develop a faster and more precise technique to dioxin quantification, is an initiative that began last October and will end in February 2016. The technological center Cartif and the enterprise SEADM located in the Technological Park of Boecillo (Valladolid) have participated in the project, whose budget is about 1.13 million euros (financed jointly in 50 percent by the European Commission).

Marta Gómez, Cartif researcher and project coordinator, and Alma María Astudillo, SEADM chemistry doctor, have explained to DiCYT that it is about applying a new analytic technique to measure dioxin and furan concentrations (other PBT toxic compounds) in the air, land and vegetal biota around an urban solid-waste incinerator.

“The incinerators are the main dioxin producers, mainly of urban solid-waste, besides painting industries, cement manufacturers and, to a lesser extent, the traffic itself”, the researchers have pointed out. They have also detailed that the project is focused “in incrementing measurement precision in parts per quadrillion (ppq) and in increasing analysis speed regarding traditional methods, gas chromatography associated with mass spectrometry”. Additionally, the method proposed by the project demands continuous measurement, with sample taking every 15 days in several backgrounds, what would allow a more “realistic” estimation of these contaminants.

Phases of the project

Until now, the work has been centered in the design of a dioxin dispersion model and in the identification of sample spots. Simultaneously, they have advanced in the technique revision. “We have installed a lab with restrict access to avoid toxicity and we have made tests with commercial standards, since we have detected 17 types of dioxins and furans. We have also checked many methods of sample and ionization introduction (for electric mobility separation), which is a characteristic of analysis before detection. We are demarcating the conditions and the optima ionization to obtain better detection levels”, the researchers claim.

After this phase, the sample taking in different backgrounds (land, air and vegetal biota) will happen in the incinerator surroundings, where high concentrations of dioxin have been detected. “The sample taking and the dioxin quantification will happen during one year and some samples will be sent to other labs, even out of Spain, in order to be analyzed and to contrast and verify our analytical method”, they add.

Once the project has been concluded, as a demonstrative position, centers and laboratories in charge of making this type of analysis may benefit from the technique. Additionally, concrete data about the evolution of dioxin concentration from its emission to its deposition in different backgrounds will be obtained with the project. Besides, safety measures to prevent population and environment exposure to these types of compounds might be established.