Luminescence spot test for screening of PCBs

Conference · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:191683

Vo-Dinh, T; Pal, A; Pal, T ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN (United States); and others

There is a critical demand to have a rapid and simple technique for screening polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) under field conditions. The use of field screening analysis allows rapid decisions in a cleanup operation and reduces the need for either return visits to a site by a cleanup crew or extensive and costly laboratory analysts of samples that contain no detectable levels of PCBs. Field screening techniques also reduce the cost of remedial actions by preventing unnecessary excavation of uncontaminated soil. This paper describes a new method based on enhanced photoactivated luminescence (EPL) for rapid detection of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The EPL method described here is a unique procedure combining several processes including (1) photoactivation by UV irradiation, (2) excitation of the photoproduct complex, and (3) fluorescence detection of the product. The EPL procedure is simple and rapid and can be performed as a spot test method under field conditions. The methodology for determination of total chlorine content of complex PCB mixtures is described.

• OSTI ID: 191683
• Report Number(s): CONF-941098--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

40 CHEMISTRY
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
LUMINESCENCE
POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS
SCREENING
SOILS