PCBs, removal

Figure 9. Model results for PCB removal by volatilization and burial fluxes in Twelve Mile Creek and the upper portion of Lake Hartwell.

Bergqvist, P.-A., L. Augulyte, and V. Jurjoniene. 2006. PAH and PCB removal efficiencies in Umea (Sweden) and Siauliai (Lithuania) municipal wastewater treatment plants. Water Air Soil Pollut. 175 291-303. 

Water treatment Reduction of lipid absorption Production of single cell protein Antigastritis agent Infant food ingredient Recovery of metal ions, pesticides, phenols, and PCBs Removal of dyes, radioisotopes... 

PCB Transformers may be serviced (including topping off) with dielectric fluid at any PCB concentration. Any PCBs removed during servicing must be captmed and either reused or disposed of. ... 

The maximum observed PCB removal was 88%, following 20-hr irradiation in water containing 1 mM Fe and 30 mmol HjOj at 66 C. Hydroxyl radicals reacted at nonchlorinated positions to give hydroxy-polychlorobiphenyls. Both ortho- and para-dihydroxy-substituted rings were readily oxidized to quinones and further oxidation led to ring-opened products that undergo hydrodechlorination rapidly, as shown by the high yield (up to 85%) of chloride ion. 

Supercritical CO2 has also beea tested as a solveat for the removal of organic contaminants from sod. At 60°C and 41.4 MPa (6,000 psi), more than 95% of contaminants, such as diesel fuel and polychlotinated biphenyls (PCBs), may be removed from sod samples (77). Supercritical CO2 can also extract from sod the foUowiag hydrocarbons, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, chlotinated hydrocarbons, phenols, chlotinated phenols, and many pesticides (qv) and herbicides (qv). Sometimes a cosolvent is required for extracting the more polar contaminants (78). 

PCB. These records include PCBs in use in transformers and capacitors, PCBs in transformers and capacitors removed from service, PCBs stored for disposal, and a report on the iiltimate disposal of the PCBs. 

SW-846, is used to measure emissions of semivolatile principal organic constituents. Method 0010 is designed to determine destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) of POHCs from incineration systems. The method involves a modification of the EPA Method 5 sampling train and may be used to determine particulate emission rates from stationary sources. The method is applied to semivolatile compounds, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chlorinated dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans, polycyclic organic matter, and other semivolatile organic compounds. 

Applicability This process is applicable to liquid (pumpable) organic wastes and finely divided, fluidizable sludges. It may be particularly applicable to the processing of liquid wastes with a high chlorine, pesticide, PCB or dioxin content. Sludges must be capable of being fluidized by the addition of a liquid. Waste streams must be free of (or preprocessed to remove) solids, which prevent satisfactory atomization. 

Extraction, employs a liquid solvent to remove certain compounds from another liquid using the preferential solubility of these solutes in the MSA. For instance, wash oils can be used to remove phenols mid polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from die aqueous wastes of synthetic-fuel plants and chlorinated hydrocarbons from organic wastewater. 

Several applications involve the removal of large amounts of triglicerides, including the determination of wax esters in olive oil (39), sterols and other minor components in oils and fats (40, 41), PCBs in fish (42), lactones in food products (43, 44), pesticides (45), and mineral oil products in food (46,47). Grob et al. (47) studied the capacity of silica gel HPLC columns for retaining fats, and concluded that the capacity of such columns is proportional to their size, although the fractions of the volumes that are then transferred to the GC system grow proportionally with the column capacity. For these reasons, 2-3 mm i.d. LC columns are to be preferred for LC-GC applications. 

Figure 13.2 MDGC-ECD chromatograms of PCB fractions from sediment samples, demonstrating the separation of the enantiomers of (a) PCB 95, (b) PCB 132, and (c) PCB 149 non-labelled peaks were not identified. Reprinted from Journal of Chromatography, A 723, A. Glausch et al, Enantioselective analysis of chiral polyclilorinated biphenyls in sediment samples by multidimensional gas cliromatography-electi on-capture detection after steam distillation-solvent exti action and sulfur removal , pp. 399-404, copyright 1996, with permission from Elsevier Science.

For polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), rate constants were highly dependent on the number of chlorine atoms, and calculated atmospheric lifetimes varied from 2 d for 3-chlorobiphenyl to 34 d for 236-25 pentachlorobiphenyl (Anderson and Hites 1996). It was estimated that loss by hydroxy-lation in the atmosphere was a primary process for the removal of PCBs from the environment. It was later shown that the products were chlorinated benzoic acids produced by initial reaction with a hydroxyl radical at the 1-position followed by transannular dioxygenation at the 2- and 5-positions followed by ring fission (Brubaker and Hites 1998). Reactions of hydroxyl radicals with polychlorinated dibenzo[l,4]dioxins and dibenzofurans also play an important role for their removal from the atmosphere (Brubaker and Hites 1997). The gas phase and the particulate phase are in equilibrium, and the results show that gas-phase reactions with hydroxyl radicals are important for the... 

Thermal blanket in situ removal and destruction of PCBs (Iben et al. 1996)... 

The anaerobic dechlorination of PCBs has been extensively studied both in microcosms and in field samples from heavily contaminated sites in the United States. Three main patterns have been fonnd—N that removed flanked meto-chlorines, P that removed para-chlorines, and LP that removed nnflanked para-chlorines (Bedard et al. 1998). By contrast, ort/to-chlorines were more recalcitrant. These experiments, which have been discussed in Chapter 9, Part 2, laid the fonndation for analysis of a field situation and an appreciation of the effect of long-term exposnre of contaminated lake sediment (Magar et al. 2005a,b). Substantial dechlorination took place in buried sediment cores (35-40 cm) compared with the snrface sediment cores (0-5 cm). Although there were some variations among the cores, the di- and trichlorinated biphenyls were produced at the expense of the... 

The most critical decision to be made is the choice of the best solvent to facilitate extraction of the drug residue while minimizing interference. A review of available solubility, logP, and pK /pKb data for the marker residue can become an important first step in the selection of the best extraction solvents to try. A selected list of solvents from the literature methods include individual solvents (n-hexane, " dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, acetone, acetonitrile, methanol, and water ) mixtures of solvents (dichloromethane-methanol-acetic acid, isooctane-ethyl acetate, methanol-water, and acetonitrile-water ), and aqueous buffer solutions (phosphate and sodium sulfate ). Hexane is a very nonpolar solvent and could be chosen as an extraction solvent if the analyte is also very nonpolar. For example, Serrano et al used n-hexane to extract the very nonpolar polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from fat, liver, and kidney of whale. One advantage of using n-hexane as an extraction solvent for fat tissue is that the fat itself will be completely dissolved, but this will necessitate an additional cleanup step to remove the substantial fat matrix. The choice of chlorinated hydrocarbons such as methylene chloride, chloroform, and carbon tetrachloride should be avoided owing to safety and environmental concerns with these solvents. Diethyl ether and ethyl acetate are other relatively nonpolar solvents that are appropriate for extraction of nonpolar analytes. Diethyl ether or ethyl acetate may also be combined with hexane (or other hydrocarbon solvent) to create an extraction solvent that has a polarity intermediate between the two solvents. For example, Gerhardt et a/. used a combination of isooctane and ethyl acetate for the extraction of several ionophores from various animal tissues. 

Solvent extraction shows effectiveness in the removal of organic wastes such as PCBs, VOCs, halogenated solvents, and petroleum wastes, but is less effective in removing inorganic compounds.39 The removal of organic contaminants depends on the nature of the extracting solvent. Organic bound metals can become a constituent of the concentrated waste, which is undesirable because it can restrict both disposal and recycle options. 

The thermal desorption process could be an excellent first step in soil treatment if used in conjunction with another ex situ treatment. Thermal desorption can remove TCE, most diesel fuel, and perhaps organically bound lead. Chemical Waste Management, Inc., has claimed that thermal desorption can reduce volatile organics to less than 1 mg/L and inorganics to less than 10 mg/L (sometimes even to less than 1 mg/L), and has shown a removal of 96 to 99+% of PCBs from soils containing 120 to 6000 mg/L of initial PCBs.17-91... 

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