Occurrence of Phthalate Esters in MSW Landfill Area, Wuhan, China

Samples of groundwater, leachates, surface water and soils were collected from 22 sites in the Municipal solid waste landfill area in Wuhan, Central China. Sixteen phthalate esters (PAEs) were detected by gas chromatography (GC). The results showed that there were one or several PAEs in all the samples and the concentrations of total PAEs in groundwater, leachates, surface water, and soils were 0.760~14.14 mug/L, 21.17~139.27 mug/L, 0.63~5.10 mug/L and 0.292 to 7.81 mug/g (dw), respectively. The PAEs levels in the groundwater of the MSW landfill in Wuhan were much higher than those of the Jianghan plain. However, the PAEs levels in the other media in this study were similar to those from other places in China. Of the 16 PAEs, DBP, DIBP and DEHP were dominant species in all media samples and only DBP in the groundwater close to the Quality Standard.