Page 19 - Shimadzu Journal vol.3 Issue1

Environmental Monitoring

Global Monitoring of POPs in the Asian Coastal Region and International

Conference of Asian Environmental Chemistry 2014 in Thailand

Kei Machida and Satoshi Yamaki, Shimadzu Corporation
1. UNU-Shimadzu Partnership Project acid (PFOS) are highly stable chemical compounds widely used as water
repellents, oil repellents and coating agents. These compounds do not
Environmental water contains a variety of elements, including
decompose easily in the natural world due to their stability. Reports of
those related to industrial and agricultural activity and urban
their detection in rivers, tap water, and food, as well as in the
waste. These pollutants do not have borders. In particular,
atmosphere and in human blood have led to concern about their effects
Persistent Organic Pollutants, or POPs, can remain in water for a
on the human body. PFCs were added to the POPs group at the
very long time and enter the food chain, posing a real risk to
Stockholm Convention in 2009.
human and ecological health. In efforts to manage these
pollutants in Asia, the United Nations University (UNU) and
Shimadzu Corporation jointly established a capacity-building 2. Monitoring and Management of POPs in Asia
initiative that would provide Asian countries with the analytical (The Sixth Phase: 2012-2015)
scientific knowledge and technology to monitor pollutants in the
Ten institutes from Asian countries (China, India, Indonesia, Korea,
environment and better implement multilateral environmental
Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam)
agreements like the Stockholm Convention on POPs. This joint
are participating in the sixth phase of the UNU-Shimadzu
project of global environmental monitoring is now in the 19th
partnership initiative as national project coordinators (NPCs) to
year and about to complete its sixth phase. All items monitored
monitor POPs in environmental water. In February 2013, Shimadzu
were substances of great concern at that time, e.g. both ambient
provided NPCs with training on the simultaneous separation and
and indoor aldehydes, endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs),
detection of PFOS and PFOA in surface water sample using liquid
POPs, and brominated flame retardants. Under this UNU-Shimadzu
chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). In
partnership project, numerous environmental researchers have
addition, Shimadzu supplied and installed LC-MS/MS instruments
been trained using the latest analytical scientific techniques for
(LCMS-8040) in China, Korea and Singapore in early 2014 so that
monitoring these pollutants. In addition, an extensive network
analysis of water samples collected by the NPCs in both dry and
connecting academia, the private sector and government has been
wet seasons could be conducted. All of the analytical data and
built across the region and internationally.
reports were submitted to the UNU, which presented some of the
In the current phase encompassing the November 2012 to October monitoring results as well as the quality assurance and quality
2015 period, the focus is on perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) control practices to the Stockholm Convention regional
monitoring in environmental water in the Asian coastal region. PFCs committee. This data could be an important source for evaluating
such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic the global POPs level.
Project outline of the sixth Phase
Period 2012-2015
Target media Environmental water
Target compounds PFCs (perfluorinated compounds)
Target chemicals PFOS/PFOA
Instrument Shimadzu Nexera XR HPLC and LCMS-8040 triple quadrupole mass spectrometer
Method ISO25101: 2009(E)
Participating national Bharathidasan University (India)
project coordinators China-Japan Friendship Center for Environmental Protection (China)
(in alphabetical order) Chonnam National University (Korea)
Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore (Singapore)
Environmental Management Center – PSARPEDAL (Indonesia)
Environmental Research and Training Center (Thailand)
Natural Sciences Research Institute, University of the Philippines (Philippines)
Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (Pakistan)
University of Malaysia (Malaysia)
Viet Nam National University (Viet Nam)

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