Degradation Characteristics of PBDEs in Flame-Retardant Textiles in Response to the EU POPs Regulation

Fangzheng Yuan, Hong Zhang

Article
2025 / Volume 8 / Pages 961-983
Received 24 July 2025; Accepted 18 September 2025; Published 11 December 2025
https://doi.org/10.31881/TLR.2025.961

Abstract
The EU persistent organic pollutants (POPs) Regulation imposes strict limit requirements on the residues of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in flame-retardant textiles. However, due to the stable structure and strong fiber matrix shielding effect of high-brominated diphenyl ethers, their degradation rate is slow, making it difficult to meet compliance requirements during their service life. This paper focuses on the migration and degradation characteristics of high-brominated PBDEs under real service conditions, constructs a multi-factor synergistic simulation system integrating ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, wet-heat cycling, and periodic water washing, and uses gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) to quantitatively track polybrominated isomers. The results show that under the synergistic conditions of a triple stress, the concentration of BDE-209 dropped from 8.5 mg/kg to 1.2 mg/kg, and the concentrations of the main products BDE-153 and BDE-99 were 3.2 mg/kg and 2.9 mg/kg, respectively. The results indicate that this method effectively promotes debromination and contributes to the control of residues within the EU POPs thresholds applicable to textile products. Although the total PBDE concentration remains within the EU POPs thresholds applicable to textile categories, these products exhibit persistence, bioaccumulation potential, and adverse biological effects that are comparable to or higher than that of the parent compound. This highlights that regulatory compliance should be evaluated together with the inherent toxicity of degradation products to provide a more comprehensive assessment of environmental safety.

Keywords
flame retardant textiles, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, environmental degradation pathway, POPs regulation, kinetic modeling