Dioxins and Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
BNP’ very strong position in testing dioxins and Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs ) enables the Group to offer its clients a unique combination of advantages:
- Exceptionally high sensitivity and precision, safer data and higher quality due to huge investment in R&D over the last decade and very experienced staff.
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Cost-effective expertise in dioxin and POP testing due to the highest throughput in Europe and the resulting economies of scale.
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Ability to guarantee rapid analysis time of less than 5 days.
BNP analyses around 15,000 dioxin samples per year including PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and believes that it is the world market leader in this area.
Regulation Advisory Services (EU, US, Japan)
At BNP, dioxins are analysed according to accepted European directives and certified procedures or upon request according to Japanese standards (JIS requirements) and American standards (US EPA method).
Brominated and mixed halogenated dioxins
BNP developed exceptional competence in the field of measurement and detection of brominated dioxins, mixed halogenated dioxins and brominated flame retardants as a result of years of testing and R&D. The latter are often added in plastic materials and may form brominated dioxins in case of fire accidents. Recent publications highlight the importance of this group of compounds. These ubiquitous toxic trace components, which can affect human health even in concentrations in the nanogram to picogram range (10-9 – 10-12 g), are part of the analytical portfolio of the BNP Competence Centre on Dioxins.
BNP offers sampling combined with high sensitivity analysis down to the nanogram range (10-9g) of a broad selection of specific compounds in emission gases as well as in materials. BNP is therefore able to increase by a factor of 100 the sensitivity for detecting mixed halogenated dioxins and thus approaching the standard range for chlorinated species.
The following table illustrates a selection of substance classes that BNP tests:
Parameter | Method |
Polychlorinated dibenzo(p) dioxins and furans (PCDD/F) | HRGC/HRMS |
Polybrominated dibenzo(p) dioxins and furans (PBDD/F) | HRGC/HRMS |
Mixed-halogenated = polybrominated/-chlorinated dibenzo(p) dioxins and furans (PBCDD/F) | HRGC/HRMS |
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) | HRGC/LRMS |
Organotin compounds | HRGC/LRMS |
Brominated flame retardants (PBDE, PBB, HBCD, TBBPA) | HRGC/LRMS |
Plasticisers, surfactants (phthalates, alkyl phenols, linear alkyl sulfonates (LAS)) | HRGC/LRMS |
Chloroparaffins (C10-C17) | HRGC/NCI MS |
Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) e.g. PFOA, PFOS | LC/MS-MS |
Chlorobenzenes (PCBz) and chlorophenols (PCPh) | HRGC/LRMS |
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB incl. WHO-PCB) | HRGC/HRMS |
HRGC/HRMS = High Resolution Gas Chromatography / High Resolution Mass Spectrometry HRGC/LRMS = High Resolution Gas Chromatography / Low Resolution Mass Spectrometry HRGC/NCIMS = High Resolution Gas Chromatography / Negative Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometry |