Search Result
Technology Innovation News Survey Feed (RSS)
PCBS IN OLDER BUILDINGS: MEASURING PCB LEVELS IN CAULK AND WINDOW GLAZING MATERIALS IN OLDER BUILDINGS
Osemwengie, L. and J. Morgan.
Environments 6(2):15(2019)
A method developed for the determination of PCBs in caulk was evaluated by application to a combination of 47 samples of caulk, glazing materials, and quality control samples from four schools in the northeastern area of the United States. The choice of materials for testing the method's efficacy arose from the extensive use of caulk and glazing materials in older U.S. school buildings. Samples were collected from the interior and exterior doors, windows, interior building seams, around installed fixtures and appliances, and within interior and exterior building joints. Quality control analysis showed a range of 45-170% for spike recovery from the various samples and a range of 10.9-20.1% difference in precision. Results for the samples analyzed showed that three of the four schools sampled contained caulking and glazing materials with levels of PCBs >50 µg/g (range 54.6 µg/g to 445,000 µg/g). Across the four schools, 24% of collected caulk and glazing samples had elevated PCB levels relative to U.S. EPA's 50 µg/g criteria under TSCA. The PCBs determined in the samples exhibited characteristic chromatographic patterns similar to those of Aroclor 1242, 1248, 1254, 1260, 1262, and a 1016/1254 mix. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3298/6/2/15/htm
Environments 6(2):15(2019)
A method developed for the determination of PCBs in caulk was evaluated by application to a combination of 47 samples of caulk, glazing materials, and quality control samples from four schools in the northeastern area of the United States. The choice of materials for testing the method's efficacy arose from the extensive use of caulk and glazing materials in older U.S. school buildings. Samples were collected from the interior and exterior doors, windows, interior building seams, around installed fixtures and appliances, and within interior and exterior building joints. Quality control analysis showed a range of 45-170% for spike recovery from the various samples and a range of 10.9-20.1% difference in precision. Results for the samples analyzed showed that three of the four schools sampled contained caulking and glazing materials with levels of PCBs >50 µg/g (range 54.6 µg/g to 445,000 µg/g). Across the four schools, 24% of collected caulk and glazing samples had elevated PCB levels relative to U.S. EPA's 50 µg/g criteria under TSCA. The PCBs determined in the samples exhibited characteristic chromatographic patterns similar to those of Aroclor 1242, 1248, 1254, 1260, 1262, and a 1016/1254 mix. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3298/6/2/15/htm
The Technology Innovation News Survey welcomes your comments and
suggestions, as well as information about errors for correction. Please
contact Michael Adam of the U.S. EPA Office of Superfund Remediation
and Technology Innovation at adam.michael@epa.gov or (703) 603-9915
with any comments, suggestions, or corrections.
Mention of non-EPA documents, presentations, or papers does not constitute a U.S. EPA endorsement of their contents, only an acknowledgment that they exist and may be relevant to the Technology Innovation News Survey audience.
