Polyurethane Foam Emission Samplers to Identify Sources of Airborne Polychlorinated Biphenyls from Glass-Block Windows and Other Room Surfaces in a Vermont School.

We hypothesized that emissions of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from Aroclor mixtures present in building materials explain their concentrations in school air. Here, we report a study of airborne concentrations and gas-phase emissions in three elementary school rooms constructed in 1958. We collected airborne PCBs using polyurethane foam passive air samplers (PUF-PAS, = 6) and PCB emissions from building materials using polyurethane foam passive emission samplers (PUF-PES, = 17) placed over flat surfaces in school rooms, including vinyl tile floors, carpets, painted bricks, painted drywall, and glass-block windows.

Aerobic Bioaugmentation to Decrease Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Emissions from Contaminated Sediments to Air.

We conducted experiments to determine whether bioaugmentation with aerobic, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-degrading microorganisms can mitigate polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) emissions from contaminated sediment to air. strain LB400 was added to bioreactors containing PCB-contaminated site sediment. PCB mass in both the headspace and aqueous bioreactor compartments was measured using passive samplers over 35 days.

Occurrence and spatial distribution of individual polychlorinated biphenyl congeners in residential soils from East Chicago, southwest Lake Michigan.

We report individual polychlorinated biphenyl congeners and the sum of all congeners (ΣPCB) in residential soils of East Chicago, Indiana. ΣPCB in soils ranged from 20 to 1700 ng/g dry weight (DW), with a geometric mean of 120 ng/g DW. These values are significantly higher than other locations, but similar or lower to locations nearby well-known PCB contamination sites.