International Journal of Science, Engineering and TechnologyAuthors: Alawode, B.O., Adeyemi, S.A., Otuewu, O.O., Akapo, S.A.
Abstract: Phthalate Esters (PAEs) are environmental pollutants released to the soil directly or indirectly during production and disposal of the products in which they are present. Topsoil of three selected dumpsites (Oke Sopen {OKD}, Atikori {ATD} and Akeula Dumpsites {AkD}) were collected randomly for seven consecutive days. The topsoil samples were air dried in the laboratory and sieved using 2 mm mesh to obtained fine particles. 1 g of each samples were extracted using 1:1 acetone/n-hexane, sulfur was removed with activated copper. The mixture was vortexed (10minutes) and sonicated for 30 minutes before centrifugation at 3000 rpm. The organic phase was collected and re-extracted twice. Combined extracts were concentrated and purified using a pre-cleaned silica/alumina column. The eluates were concentrated using a rotary evaporator and reduced to 1 mL under nitrogen for final PAE analysis. Di ethyl phthalates (DEP), Di-n-butyl phthalates (DBP), Butyl-benzyl phthalates (BBP), Di- (2-Ethylhexyl) phthalates (DeHP), Di-n-octyl phthalates (DnOP) were present in the studied dumpsite topsoils. DeHP had the highest concentrations in the dumpsites with concentrations 4.55, 3.01 and 15.31 mg/kg in Oke Sopen, Atikori and Akeula dumpsites respectively. This high concentration may be attributed its wide application range in production process and increase in deposition of plastics materials on the dumpsite.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18336579
