Emission of Unintentionally Produced Persistent Organic Pollutants from Some Industrial Processes in Northern Vietnam

Concentrations of PCDD/Fs, dioxin-like PCBs (dl-PCBs), PeCB and HCB were determined in flue gas, fly ash and bottom ash samples collected from brick production, steel production, and zinc production plants, an industrial waste incinerator and a medical waste incinerator in northern Vietnam to understand the contamination levels, accumulation patterns and extent of emission. Total TEQs concentrations of PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs in flue gas and ash samples from these industrial plants ranged from 0.304 to 50.55 pg/Nm3 and 1.43 to 440 pg/g, respectively. PeCB and HCB residues in flue gas samples ranged from 0.839 to 46.59 ng/Nm3 and 1.16 to 60.5 ng/Nm3, respectively. The emission factors of 4.8–740 ngTEQs/tonne for PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs, 67.12–240.7 µg/ton for PeCB and 11.64–889.3 µg/ton for HCB were obtained in flue gas samples. This is among the first reports on the emission factor of PCDD/Fs, dl-PCBs, PeCB, HCB in brick production, zinc production and waste incineration in Vietnam.