The use of electrical and electronic products made of low specific gravity and easy processing plastics has increased alongside industrial development. As these products were abandoned, environmental problems such as Dioxine and Furan began to rise. Accordingly, through long-time reviews and discussions, the EU has implemented the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations. In addition, the Stockholm Convention was adopted in April 2011 to regulate wastes containing brominated flame retardants. Therefore, the Basel Convention issued technical guidelines and environmentally friendly treatments for wastes containing brominated flame retardants. Proper management and treatment plans that are suitable to Korea’s circumstances are required for Korea to respond to both conventions and changing trends in international POPs management. In this regard, the study identified domestic and international trends in environmental regulations and usages, obtained fundamental data for the management of waste containing brominated flame retardants, and investigated the current status of waste generation in Korea. The results of analyses were used to make a lab-scale incineration reactor as the basis for setting incineration temperature ranges for experiments. After incineration, five general air pollutants (O2, CO, CO2, SOx, and NOx) and three components of BRFs in emission gases and flooring were analyzed to identify whether the PBDEs in waste can be destroyed in a stable and environmental manner during heat treatment. In the analysis, HRMS was used for PBDEs and GC/MS/MS for TBBPA and HBCD. PBDD/DFs was proportionally increased in facilities that had high concentrations of PCDD/DFs during incineration. In conclusion, wastes containing brominated flame retardants in Korea can be incinerated in an environmentally friendly manner.

This study aims to monitor the variation of concentration of PCDD/DFs between the gaseous phase-particulate phases in the ambient air of urban area in Korea. This monitoring is evaluated by using the Junge-Pankow model and the Koa absorption model with the application of the Octanol-air partition coefficient. In this study, the ambient air samples were analyzed according to each congener group of the PCDD/DFs by HRGC/HRMS, which have been investigated for the past 5 years. In the results, the annual variation in the concentration level of ∑PCDD/DFs in TSP was increased from 1588 fg/㎥ in 1998 to 5123 fg/㎥ in 2002, and from 31 fg I-TEQ/㎥ to 94 fg I-TEQ/㎥ in the ∑I-TEQ. In the case of PUF of gaseous phase sample, their variation was increased from 1615 fg/㎥ in 1998 to 2237 fg/㎥ in 2002, and in the ∑I-TEQ from 12 fg I-TEQ/㎥ to 17 fg I-TEQ/㎥. The relative coefficient between the gas phase concentration of PCDD/DFs and the temperature was a value of 0.744; the contributive rate of the temperature to the gaseous phase concentration was 0.554. According to the results, the pattern of the coefficient of distribution based on log PL0 is similar to the ambient air of the urban areas.