Receptor Modeling of PCDD/FS in Sediment of the Sundsvall Bay, Sweden

• In the Sundsvall Bay area, located in the southern Bothnian Sea (a sub-basin of the Baltic Sea), industrial history have included a large variety of activities, from small sawmills to large pulp and paper mills as well as chloralkali production. Previously, several sawmills in the area used chlorophenol formulations for wood preservation, and these were contaminated by PCDD/Fs. Chloralkali production using graphite electrodes and bleaching of pulp using chlorine are manufacturing processes also known to have caused PCDD/Fs emissions. A chemical industry has been active in the area since the 1930s and an aluminum smelter was built in 1942. Aluminum production, like many high temperature processes, is known to produce PCDD/Fs.The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of using receptor modeling for identification and apportioning of the major sources of PCDD/Fs in the Sundsvall Bay. The Sundsvall Bay was chosen as the first study area of this modeling technique along the Swedish coast since there are several possible sources of PCDD/Fs in the area and a relatively large number of sediment samples have been analyzed. Current PCDD/F emissions have been investigated by sampling river water, industrial effluent entering the bay and, in addition, soil from two contaminated sawmill sites.

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