Computational Study of Potential Impact of End-of-Life Stage of Polycarbonate Waste Due to Dispersion of Bisphenol-A from Incinerator

Abstract

There is considerable concern that polycarbonates that are widely used is a source of the emergent contaminant bisphenol-A. This study was performed to evaluate the dispersion of Bisphenol-A from incineration plants and its distribution to different environmental media in Singapore. METI-LIS generated three dimensional concentration profile of Bisphenol-A, which was used to determine the scavenging ratio; this ratio was then applied to an equilibrium criterion model to assess the fate of Bisphenol-A in different environmental media. As knowledge on exact percentage of PC in plastic wastes is limited, the concentration of Bisphenol-A after partitioning to air, water, soil and sediment were analyzed for three different cases. Study of the effect of plume downwash revealed the concentration of Bisphenol-A intake through respiratory tract of human beings in 100 m radius form waste to energy plants. The results from model were thus verified with concentration of BPA in Marina reservoir of Singapore.

Keywords: Dispersion modelling, bisphenol-A (BPA), fate assessment, emerging contaminants, Level 3 EQC model