LTR - Ep 64 - What Are PolyChlorinated Biphenyls aka PCBs?

In this 64th episode, I discuss "What Are PolyChlorinated Biphenyls aka PCBs?"

PCBs stands for PolyChlorinated Biphenyls.  PolyChlorinated Biphenyls are man-made organic chemicals used widely as electrical insulators and coolants until banned in the U.S. in 1979 due to high toxicity and environmental persistence.

PCBs were found to be probable carcinogens and due tot he fact that they do not easily breakdown in our environment, they can easily spread over long distances and transport through our environment and ecosystem.

The most common source of PCBs contamination is from old leaking transformers on power poles, that had transformer oil in them that contained PCBs.  Other contamination sources are old building materials, sealants, coolants, caulking materials and hydraulic oils/fluids.

Due to the high toxicity, PCBs have a low threshold of interest of 50 ppm or more requiring specialized hazardous materials handling.  Additionally, due to their high toxicity, the clean up level of interest should be to zero or non-detect (ND).

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:04

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SPEAKER_02 0:27

Hey there, let's talk remediation. This is your host, Charles Fader, and this is our 64th episode of Let's Talk Remediation. Uh our 64th episode is brought to us by our ongoing sponsor, Hanby Environmental. Hanby Environmental is a manufacturer of field test kits, field test kits that analyze for uh petroleum hydrocarbons and PFAS and chlorides in soil and solid surface and water analysis, providing accurate, economical, and efficient, meaning fast, results. And so thank you, Hambi Environmental, for your ongoing support of this podcast. Let's talk remediation, where we're trying to have a positive impact on the environmental remediation industry. And with that, let's get started with our 64th episode. Our 64th episode is What are PCBs? PCBs, polychlorinated biphenols. PCBs is what we're going to talk about today. And I do have a friend and colleague in the emergency response and cleanup business whose initials are PCBs, so or PCB anyway. And so we are not talking about my friend and colleague, although I like to mention him because uh I find it uh fun that he has the same uh initials. Perry C. Beatty. Perry C. Beatty has been in the environmental uh emergency response and cleanup business for over 60 years. He's out of North Carolina, and Perry C. Beatty, commonly referred to as PCB, has uh seen it all, been there, done that. So uh he is something someone you would like to get in contact with anytime you're dealing with hazardous waste or hazardous material that needs to be clean up. So uh again, but Perry C Beatty is not the topic of this conversation, although he's got the same initials PCB. PCBs, polychlorinated biphenols as an environmental contaminant is what we're talking about today. And polychlorinated biphenols, why they if they the acronym is PCBs or PCB, are man-made organic chemicals that um actually in the US have been banned since 1979. Um they're widely were used as electrical insulators and coolants, um, most commonly found in old transformers, okay? Transformers that are on poles, power poles, um, and they would they were in the oils that were in these uh transformers, and of course, over time those transformers um rust and deteriorate and leak that transformer oil out of the transformer down the pole and into the the soil, and then ultimately it spreads throughout our environment. PCBs were banned in 1979 due to their high high toxicity and the fact that they are persistent in our environment, meaning they don't easily break down, so they stand for long periods of time, and for that, uh because of that, they spread throughout our uh our environment. So the persistence PCBs resist breaking down in water and in soil and in the air, and so they last for decades in our environment. And when they don't break down and they last for so long, they get spread. And how do they get spread? Well, they get spread throughout um our aquatic life, um, precipitation, meaning rain, uh, washes away and moves things from one place to another, and so it spreads throughout our environment. Uh and so for that reason it sticks around forever, and it it can go huge long distances because it doesn't break down. So that's why PCBs were outlawed or banned in the United States since 1979. Um so again, they they come from leaking transformer poles is the most probable cause of environmental contamination of PCBs. Um also in in you know, because they were used as coolants and and um uh as uh insulators for you know the electricity going through transformers, um, also in hydraulic fluids. Um and so because they again they are highly toxic, they are actually were have been found to be a carcinogen, okay? Meaning they uh can cause cancer. And so again, they were banned since 1979, and anytime that a source of soil or water on or on solid surface, anytime a sample is found to have any more than 50 ppm parts per million, 50 parts per million, um, special handling is required of that particular sample because of the and and how that handling is going to be uh disposed of, you know, because it's considered hazardous waste uh at 50 ppm or more. Um so special handling has to take place because again, it's it's been found to be a carcinogen. Um so again, PCBs is polychlorinated biphenyls. Um they are man-made organic chemicals that are composed of your typical hydrocarbons, because you know, or that's why it is a hydrocarbon, because it's got hydrogen and carbon atoms, but as well as hydrogen and carbon, it has chlorine as well, and that's why it's called polychlorinated biphenols, uh PCBs. Um, and again, like I said, they don't break down in the environment very easily. Uh old electrical equipment, industrial products, uh, hydraulic oils, old paints and and and caulking compounds uh back prior to 1979 when they were banned, had PCBs in them. And so, and if you think about it, even post-1979, where they were outlawed, and so they started having transformer oils up in those transformers on power poles that had a new transformer oil in them that no longer had PCBs in them. But if you think about it, that's great. All the power poles across the United States, or you know, across the world for that matter, haven't been replaced. And and since they haven't been replaced, that means those old power poles or old transformers on those power poles still have PCBs in them and are sources of ongoing contamination in our environment. And again, since they don't break down once they're in the environment, then they're going to spread. Um, oftentimes at the bottom, in a rural setting, for example, uh, maybe a metropolitan area may have had the capital via taxes or something like that to replace their power pole transformers with new transformers that had, you know, new transformer oil in them that doesn't have PCBs in it. But uh highly unlikely that in rural settings that those transformers have been replaced. And uh beneath those power poles, if you ever see dead vegetation on the ground, dead grass, that type of stuff, you can bet that probably those transformers up above that power pole are leaking, and they're leaking that transformer oil, and most likely has PCB contamination in it. So again, polychlorinated biphenols most commonly were found from old electrical equipment, transformers, capacitors, old building materials such as caulk and paint and sealants. Um and and for that reason, if you think about it, if it gets into the soil, typically it gets into the water too, right? So old contaminated sediment in the bottom of rivers and lakes and coastal areas, uh, and then of course they get in the aquatic life. The aquatic life takes it in and then it gets spread, you know, and then from the aquatic life, it gets the aquatic life gets eaten by humans, and so it gets through our entire environment from lots of different directions. So that is how it spreads throughout uh our environment. So again, uh PCBs, polychlorinated biphenols, are hydrocarbons because they have hydrogen and carbon atoms in there, but in addition to just hydrocarbons, meaning hydrogen and carbon atoms, it also has chlorine, which is why it's called polychlorinated biphenols. It has chlorine in addition to the hydrogen and carbon atoms, so that's why it is a uh PCB is a um a hydrocarbon. And so one of the questions I get asked all the time about the Hambi environmental field test kits are can your field test kits detect PCBs? And I say, absolutely, PCBs are a petroleum hydrocarbon, they're a hydrocarbon, and all hydrocarbons come from even the man-made ones come from petroleum. So, yes, our field test kit can detect PCBs. Um and if the PCBs are found alone, and it's uh you know, it's not sitting there and say transformer oil or something like that, because the transformer oil has evaporated, gone away, that type of thing, and the PCBs that are uh that don't break down still remain. PCBs alone have a very distinctive peach color associated with them. So think about our our field test kit as being kind of like a pool kit, right? A pull test kit. We start with a white powder, and if the white powder discolors, when you're analyzing the sample, it changes color, then there's been detection of petroleum hydrocarbons. And the lightness or darkness of that color tells you concentration. The darker the color is, the more concentrated your contamination level is. Um, and then in addition to that, the color tells you what hydrocarbon is present or most present in the event of a mixture. So, like I said, let's say the transformer oil uh leaked from those old transformers, and that oil kind of has evaporated over time and broke down that type of thing. Well, guess what didn't? The PCBs that were in that transformer oil are still there because they don't readily break down. So they stay there in the environment. So if you saw dead vegetation, for example, again in that same example I used earlier, on the ground, that dead grass beneath an old transformer pole in a rural setting, if you went and tested that, uh, you're most likely going to only have PCBs left. You're not gonna have the transform oil that's there. And if you test that, that white powder, which represents zero or blank, no petroleum hydrocarbon contamination detected, is going to have a peach color associated with it. And no other petroleum hydrocarbons produce that peach color. Um, you know, say a refined fuel such, well, let's start with let's start with a crude oil. A crude oil will have tan to brown, and then a refined fuel such as gasoline has yellow, orange to red, red on the higher concentrations, versus uh diesel fuel, again, it's very similar to crude oil in color. It has a tan to brown associated with it. But PCBs have a very distinct peach color. No other petroleum hydrocarbon for us produces that peach color other than PCBs. So when I'm asked, does your field test kit detect PCBs? I said yes. In fact, it's very distinctive the color that our test kits produce when it detects PCBs. So, yes, our field test kits can detect and quantify PCB contamination for you. Um so again, PCBs stands for polychlorinated biphenols. They were outlawed in 1979, uh, but still persist and are an environmental contaminant in our environment. And that's simply because they do not readily break down like other petroleum hydrocarbons, such as um oils. Oils over time, you know, natural degration from the environment will start to break them down, but the things inside the oil, such as the PCBs, do not readily break down and will still remain. So, yes, they are detectable by our field test kit because of their long persistence in the environment. So that is really what I wanted to cover today is what are PCBs. Not my friend and colleague uh Perry C. Beatty, PCB, uh out of North Carolina, who uh is an expert in the hazardous waste materials industry and the cleanup thereof, uh, but instead the can environmental contaminant of polychlorinated biphenols is what we were talking about today. Again, a toxic man-made organic chemical that is composed of not just hydrogen and carbon atoms, but chlorine as well. And that's how it gets its name, polychlorinated biphenols. And again, it is a toxic not readily breaking down, uh found to be a carcinogen environmental contaminant. Um, and for that reason, the threshold of interest uh set by the US EPA has guidelines of 50 ppm, 50 parts per million, requires specialized handling. Now, because it is a heart carcinogen, that just means specialized handling for the waste disposal of it and how it's handled. I mean, the reality because it's a carcinogen is that you know you really need to be cleaning up PCB contamination down to zero or non-detect. Uh, it's just what you do with it and how you clean it up. That's how you need to get it down to zero. But uh, if you find contamination levels at 50 or over, it requires specialized handling because of the fact that it's a carcinogen. So, again, you know, today's topic was PCBs. What are PCBs? Polychlorinated biphenols. It is an environmental contaminant that is highly toxic, found to be a carcinogen, is very persistent in our environment, doesn't readily break down, and for that reason, it moves throughout our environment over long periods of time. And for that reason, it is a uh a known carcinogen environmental contaminant that needs to be dealt with. And even though it's been outlawed since 1979, still exists in our environment and is always going to be there. So that's why I wanted to talk about it today as to what is a PCB polychlorinated biphenyl. So, with that, I will conclude this 64th episode of Let's Talk Remediation. I thank our ongoing sponsor, Hambi Environmental, for providing us uh this the ability to provide this podcast, Let's Talk Remediation, to have a positive impact on the environmental remediation industry. Um, I thank you for tuning in and supporting our podcast and following us. Uh, like I say always, if you have a specific topic you'd like for us to cover or a specific question you'd like for us to address, just drop me a line at my email, C Fader. That's C F S N Frank A-T-O-R, C Fader at Let's Talk Remediation.com, and we will get that covered on a future podcast for you. Um with that, I guess I'll go ahead and wrap wrap up this 64th episode. Thank you again for tuning in, and with that, I'm your host, Charles Fader, and I'm out.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

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