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5043593 
Journal Article 
Distribution of phthalate esters in air, water, sediments, and fish in the Asan Lake of Korea 
Lee, YM; Lee, JE; Choe, W; Kim, T; Lee, JY; Kho, Y; Choi, K; Zoh, KD 
2019 
1 
Environment International
ISSN: 0160-4120
EISSN: 1873-6750 
Elsevier Ltd 
OXFORD 
126 
635-643 
English 
30856451 
WOS:000462597500072 
Phthalate esters (PEs) are the most commonly used plasticizers and one of the endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) which are extensively present in various environment. Therefore, it is important to examine the levels and distribution of phthalates in multimedia environment. This study investigated the seasonal and spatial variation of 14 PEs in air, water, sediments, and fish in the Asan Lake. Asan Lake is one of the largest artificial lakes in Korea, and is surrounded by industrial complex and farmlands. The PEs were found to be present throughout the study area. The mean concentration of total PEs (∑14 PEs) was 3.92-33.09 ng/m3 in air, not detected (n.d.)-2.29 μg/L in water, 3.6-8973 μg/kg dry weight (dw) in sediment, and n.d.-1081 μg/kg dw in fish, respectively. The most frequently detected phthalate in the samples was di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), and followed by di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP). The concentrations of PEs in water and sediment samples tended to decrease moving downstream of Asan Lake. Bioaccumulation of PEs showed that benthic feeding fish such as crucian carp or skygager contained higher levels of DEHP. Partitioning of DEHP and DBP between water and sediment was calculated using paired sediment/water samples and fugacity fraction (ff). High ff value (ff = 0.89 ± 0.1) of DBP and low ff value of DEHP (ff = 0.24 ± 0.1) confirmed that DEHP is the most abundant PEs in the sediment, and DBP is the second most abundant PEs except DEHP in water. Our results can provide important information of the distribution and behavior of PEs in the lake environment. 
Phthalate esters; DEHP (di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate); DBP(di-n-butyl phthalate); Sediment-water partitioning; Bioaccumulation; Fugacity fraction