A preliminary demonstration of natural dechlorination of PCBs in the sediments of Lake Hartwell, SC
Conference
·
OSTI ID:230851
- Environmental Resources Management Group, Inc., Baltimore, MD (United States)
- Northeast Analytical, Inc., Schenectady, NY (United States)
PCBs in the sediments and fish of Lake Hartwell (SC) have been associated with the former operations of a manufacturing facility in Pickens, SC, and have been detected downstream in Twelvemile Creek, and the Twelvemile Creek Arm of Lake Hartwell. Recent efforts have focused on identifying appropriate methods to reduce the long-term health risks due to eating these fish. The persistence of PCBs in the sediments has been at issue. Early characterizations of the transport and fate of PCBs in the lake did not consider the possibility for natural dechlorination and ultimate degradation of the PCBs in the sediments. To assess the potential for natural dechlorination/degradation by anaerobic pathways previously demonstrated by other investigators, twenty samples of the sediments in the most heavily contaminated areas of the lake (total PCB concentrations of 5--15 mg/kg) were collected in January 1994, using hand-held corers, and the sediments subjected to analysis for PCB congeners using the Green Bay Method. Most of the samples showed evidence of dechlorination for several of the 5-, 6-, and 7-chlorine congeners, in patterns consistent with previous published descriptions of bacterially-mediated anaerobic dechlorination mechanisms. The sediment samples were also subjected to an analysis to detect the presence of the chlorobenzoate breakdown product of aerobic degradation of 1-, 2-, and 3-chlorine congeners. Analyses of three of the samples detected the presence of these broken-ring degradation products of the biphenyl carbon base structure. The results indicate that PCB degradation is contributing to decreases in total levels of PCBs in the system.
- OSTI ID:
- 230851
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9511137--; ISBN 1-880611-03-1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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