PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Incineration of municipal solid waste releases highly toxic pollutants into the environment. The gases emitted are persistent organic pollutants, including dioxins and furans, which are highly toxic and bioaccumulative in the food chain. These pollutants can travel long distances and have an adverse effect on people and the environment. Dioxins and furans can cause a variety of health problems, including cancers and respiratory disease. Research shows that they contribute to the local pollution of soils and vegetation and have a negative impact on the health of exposed populations. However, such analysis is difficult to carry out. The high toxicity of these compounds at very low concentrations means very sensitive analysis techniques are necessary.
OBJECTIVES
The main objective of the LIFE DIOXDETECTOR project was to apply a new analytical technique for the quantification of dioxins and furans in air, soil and biota (plants) in the area surrounding a municipal solid waste incineration facility. Evaluating the dispersion and deposition of these pollutants in the environment would help to reduce their environmental impact and contribute to achieving the goals of the 'Community strategy on dioxins, furans and polychlorinated biphenyls' (2001) and related legislation, such as the Hazardous Waste Directive, Industrial Emissions Directive and the Water Framework Directive. The project proposed a new analytical approach, based on the combination of a photoionization source (field-free APPI) that achieves very high ionisation efficiency; a differential mobility analyser that selects ions according to their mobility, and that has very good transmission; and a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. The proposed technology is capable of detecting vapours between the levels of parts per trillion (ppt) and parts per quadrillion (ppq), and could help to establish security measures to protect the population and the environment.
RESULTS
The LIFE DIOXDETECTOR project represents a radical innovation in the field of ultra-trace analysis of air pollutants in general and of dioxins and furans in particular. It has developed a new analytical technique for the quantification of dioxins and furans that is faster and more accurate than existing methods, as well as being up to 80% cheaper. Unlike traditional dioxin detection methods based on gas chromatography, the new technique allows the separation of different dioxin and furan homologues, according to their physical properties. It can detect very low concentrations and the analysis time required per sample is only 2 minutes. Although the project did not achieve its goal of the separation, identification and quantification of the isomers of dioxins and furans, as foreseen, the project beneficiaries are working to address this challenge by developing a very high resolution differential mobility analyser. They are also optimising the technique ahead of commercialisation. If commercially available, the technology developed by this LIFE project could provide not only a better understanding of dioxin and furan pathways, but more insight into population exposure, which enables this problem to be tackled more effectively. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).
