Polychlorinated biphenyls sources, pollutant

The major energy-related sources of water pollution are from thermal pollution, surface water pollution from oil spills, polychlorinated biphenyls, and groundwater contamination. 

Although the major concern about the fate of organic pollntants in soil has been about pesticides in agricultural soils, other scenarios are also important. The disposal of wastes on land (e.g., at landfill sites) has raised questions about movement of pollutants contained in them into the air or neighboring rivers or water conrses. The presence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) or PAHs in snch wastes can be a significant source of pollution. Likewise, the disposal of some industrial wastes in landfill sites (e.g., by the chemical industry) raises questions about movement into air or water and needs to be carefully controlled and monitored. 

Hong, S.H., Yim, Y.H., Shim, Y.J., Oh, J.R., 2005. Congener-specific survey for polychlorinated biphenyls in sediments of industrialized bays in Korea Regional characteristics and pollution sources. Environ. Sci. Technol. 39, 7380-7388. 

Eisenreich, S.J. (1987) The chemical liminology of nonpolar organic contaminants polychlorinated biphenyl in Lake Superior. In Sources and Fates of Aquatic Pollutants. Hites, R. A., Eisenreich, S. J., Eds. pp. 393—469. Advances in Chemistry Series 216. Am. Chem. Soc., Washington D.C. 

Although several peroxidase enzymes obtained from plant, animal, and microbial sources have been investigated for their ability to catalyze the removal of aromatic compounds from wastewaters, the majority of studies have focused on using HRP. In particular, it has been shown HRP can transform phenol, chlorophenols, methoxyphenols, methylphenols, amino-phenols, resorcinols, and various binuclear phenols [7], HRP was also used for the treatment of contaminants including anilines, hydroxyquinoline, and arylamine carcinogens such as benzidines and naphthylamines [7,8]. In addition, it has been shown that HRP has the ability to induce the formation of mixed polymers resulting in the removal of some compounds that are either poorly acted upon or not directly acted upon by peroxidase [7], This phenomenon, termed coprecipitation or copolymerization, has important practical implications for wastewaters that usually contain many different pollutants. This principle was demonstrated when it was observed that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) could be removed from solution through coprecipitation with phenols [20]. However, this particular application of HRP does not appear to have been pursued in any subsequent research. 

Abstract. The distribution of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in the environment has not been systematically studied in Bulgaria in spite of their negative effect on the human health. The aim of this study is to develop a cost-effective method for determination of low concentrations of PCBs and OCPs in soils. After extraction with hexane/acetone and column cleaning with silica, the analyses was performed by gas chromatography with electron-capture detector. The limit of detection is between 0.1 and 1 ng g 1, the reproducibility at low environmental levels is about 15% RSD. The analytical recoveries for the individual compounds are between 65% and 100%. The method can be applied to study the sources of pollution, the migration and biogeochemistry of PCBs in the environment. 

Contamination. Contamination of samples by external sources can be a serious source of error and may be extremely variable. An excellent example of how serious this can be has been documented in the analysis of samples for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). PCBs are synthetic mixtures of organochlorine compounds that were first manufactured in 1929 and have become of concern as significant environmental pollutants. It has been demonstrated that samples archived since 1914, before PCBs were manufactured, picked up measurable amounts of PCBs in a few hours just sitting in a modem laboratory (Erickson). Aluminum levels in the dust in a normal laboratory are so high that dust prohibits the determination of low ppb levels of aluminum in samples. A special dust-free clean lab or clean bench with a filter to remove small dust particles may be required, similar to the clean rooms needed in the semiconductor industry, for determination of traces of aluminum, silicon, and other common elements such as iron. When trace (inorganic analysis is required, the laboratory environment can be a significant source of contamination. 

The regional air pollution by polychlorinated biphenyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dioxins/furans, from simultaneously targeted major industrial sources in Serbia in 1999 was approved [19-21]. Some countries (which signed the Protocol on POPs in 1998) participated in the intervention, which resulted in POP release into the atmosphere from the territory of Serbia in 1999. In every case, the UN-ECE initiative on POPs was well known and in this spirit the bombing of major industrial sources was hazardous and with long-term environmental consequences. Therefore, it is important to evaluate POP transport and deposition in Europe during this period as a warning for further armed interventions in densely populated areas. 

Sediments can be sources of toxicants and are an important consideration in toxicological chemistry. Although heavy metal sulfides such as PbS and CdS are removed from water into sediments, when the sediments are stirred up the sulfides can be oxidized to toxic soluble forms. The dense, toxic pollutants polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have accumulated in Hudson River sediments as discussed in Chapter 4, Section 4.12. As noted in Section 3.11, anoxic bacterial processes in sediments may convert insoluble inorganic mercury to mobile methylmercury compounds that contaminate fish tissue. Bottom-feeding organisms may bioaccumulate metal and organic pollutants that have accumulated in sediments. 

The relationship between water and the geosphere is twofold. The geosphere may be severely damaged by water pollution. This occurs, for example, when water pollutants produce contaminated sediments, such as those polluted by heavy metals or polychlorinated biphenyls. In some cases, the geosphere serves as a source of water pollutants. Examples include acids produced by exposed metal sulfides in the geosphere or synthetic chemicals improperly discarded in landfills. 

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