Lab Reporting of Dioxins & Furans
What are Dioxins & Furans?

Two families of similar chemical compounds
containing chlorine atoms on a carbon ring
Dioxins in Environment



Widespread in environment
With the advanced lab detection methods now
used they are found in air, water, plants, soil,
food, etc.
WHO Tolerable Daily Intake is 1 to 4 pg/kg/d
for adults
CRD Regional Water Supply Commission Meeting, July 17, 2002
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Lab Reporting of Dioxins & Furans
Sources

combustion sources: incinerators, residential
wood burning, automobiles, tire incineration,
coal fired utilities, forest fires

pulp and paper mill effluents, organochemical
production, metal smelters and refiners, other
industrial processes , seepage from landfill
sites, atmospheric deposition
CRD Regional Water Supply Commission Meeting, July 17, 2002
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Lab Reporting of Dioxins & Furans
Reporting List of Dioxins

Typically monitor 210 dioxin and furan
compounds

Report total values and the 17 individual
compounds considered most toxic
CRD Regional Water Supply Commission Meeting, July 17, 2002
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Lab Reporting of Dioxins & Furans
Units of Measure in Soil

Expressed as picograms per gram (pg/g)

Picogram is 10-12 grams or one-trillionth of a
gram

Parts per trillion
Units of Measure in Water

Expressed as picograms per Litre (pg/L)

Parts per quadrillion
CRD Regional Water Supply Commission Meeting, July 17, 2002
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Lab Reporting of Dioxins & Furans
Results Reported as ‘ND’

“ND’ means “Not detected’

No signal or peak was observed for that compound

Detection limit is concentration that would
have to be present to give an observable signal

ND with a DL of 0.11 pg/g means that
compound was not present at a concentration
of 0.11 pg/g or higher. It could be less than
that, e.g., 0.08 or even zero.
CRD Regional Water Supply Commission Meeting, July 17, 2002
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PCDD/PCDF Analysis Report
Dioxins
Concentration
(pg/g)
SDL
(pg/g)
T4CDD - Total
2,3,7,8
1.4
0.37
0.10
0.10
P5CDD - Total
1,2,3,7,8
1.8
0.16
H6CDD - Total
1,2,3,4,7,8
1,2,3,6,7,8
1,2,3,7,8,9
Furans
Concentration
(pg/g)
SDL
(pg/g)
T4CDF - Total
2,3,7,8*
2.1
0.35
0.10
0.10
0.10
0.10
P5CDF - Total
1,2,3,7,8
2,3,4,7,8
1.9
0.14
0.21
0.10
0.10
0.10
5.0
ND
0.51
0.47
0.29
0.29
0.29
0.29
H6CDF - Total
1,2,3,4,7,8
1,2,3,6,7,8
2,3,4,6,7,8
1,2,3,7,8,9
1.4
ND
ND
ND
ND
0.29
0.29
0.29
0.29
0.29
H7CDD - Total
1,2,3,4,6,7,8
14
7.1
0.48
0.48
H7CDF - Total
1,2,3,4,6,7,8
1,2,3,4,7,8,9
5.0
2.2
ND
0.48
0.48
0.48
O8CDD
34
0.77
O8CDF
4.5
0.77
CRD Regional Water Supply Commission Meeting, July 17, 2002
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PCDD/PCDF Analysis Report
(cont’d)
Labeled Compound
13C-T4CDF
13C-T4CDD
13C-P5CDF
13C-P5CDD
13C-H6CDF
13C-H6CDD
13C-H7CDF
13C-H7CDD
13C-O8CDD
% Recovery
71
71
73
79
78
77
60
66
43
2,3,7,8 - TCDD TEQs (Using NATO I-TEFs)
2,3,7,8 - TCDD TEQs (ND=1/2 DL) =
2,3,7,8 - TCDD TEQs (ND=0) =
0.90
0.82
pg/g
pg/g
2,3,7,8 - TCDD TEQs (Using WHO 1998 TEFs)
2,3,7,8 - TCDD TEQs (ND=1/2 DL) =
2,3,7,8 - TCDD TEQs (ND=0) =
0.94
0.87
pg/g
pg/g
CRD Regional Water Supply Commission Meeting, July 17, 2002
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Lab Reporting of Dioxins & Furans
Toxicity Equivalents (TEQ)s
• System of converting concentration numbers to a
single result
• Combines concentration data and toxicity to give
a “Toxic Equivalents” or TEQ.
• Toxicity of individual dioxins and furans varies
• Several conventions to calculate TEQs
CRD Regional Water Supply Commission Meeting, July 17, 2002
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Lab Reporting of Dioxins & Furans
Toxicity Equivalence (TEQs)

International Toxicity Equivalency Factors (ITEFs) assigned to the 17 toxic compounds

Most common I-TEFs are NATO and WHO

I-TEFs vary from 1.0 for 2,3,7,8-TCDD to
0.001 (NATO) or 0.0001 (WHO) for
OCDD/OCDF

For each compound, multiply the concentration
by its I-TEF; then sum to get TEQ.
CRD Regional Water Supply Commission Meeting, July 17, 2002
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Lab Reporting of Dioxins & Furans
Conventions for ReportingTEQs when
Results are ND

If a compound is ND, options include



ND = 0
(multiply I-TEF by zero)
ND = 1/2 detection limit (multiply I-TEF by 1/2
DL)
In BC, the most common system is NATO and
report two TEQ results
CRD Regional Water Supply Commission Meeting, July 17, 2002
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Lab Reporting of Dioxins & Furans
Procedural Blanks

Procedural blanks are samples analyzed in
same run but no soil or water

Tests whether or not dioxins are present in
analytical system
Reporting Results of Procedural Blanks


Results reported in same way as for test
samples
Typical TEQs for blanks are 0.222 pg/g where
(ND=1/2DL)
CRD Regional Water Supply Commission Meeting, July 17, 2002
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Lab Reporting of Dioxins & Furans
Comparing Blanks to Real Samples

TEQ results for real samples that are the same
as or less than the blank can be interpreted as:
“Dioxins not detected”
CRD Regional Water Supply Commission Meeting, July 17, 2002
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