Portable gas chromatograph for polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) analysis. Final report

Technical Report · Mon Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1985

OSTI ID:5448177

Picker, J E; Colby, B N; Trujillo, S M; Burns, E A

A portable gas chromatograph has been developed with the specific aim to permit field characterization of PCBs in dielectric fluids and contaminated soils. Design features incorporated into this analyzer, called the PCBA-102, include (1) a rugged, portable, field-usable gas chromatograph, having a wide linear dynamic range, (2) a special on-board microprocessor incorporating GC pattern recognition software to identify any of four different Aroclors in the sample at concentrations of 10 to 1000 ppM, and (3) sample preparation and operational procedures to permit use by personnel with limited operator experience. The PCBA-102 automates the EPA/ASTM regulatory analysis procedures for the characterization of Aroclors 1016, 1242, 1254, and 1260. Special easy-to-use sample preparation procedures have been developed and associated sampling kits are provided which facilitate the quantitative extraction of PCBs from the dielectric fluids and contaminated soils prior to analysis using the PCBA-102. Specificity and sensitivity of the PCBA-102 eliminates the problems attendant with non-specific chloride screening analyzers (specifically, the significantly high results when impurities are present, e.g., askarel analyses). This report provides information on the instrument design, sample preparation procedures, data handling, and the results of the instrument validation studies. A preliminary economic analysis was performed showing that with a total number of samples per year of around 2500 (e.g., 50 samples per week) the operating cost for Aroclor analysis was around $11 per sample for PCBs in transformer fluids and $13 a sample for PCBs in soils.

• Research Organization: S-Cubed, San Diego, CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5448177
• Report Number(s): EPRI-CS-4175; ON: TI85920789
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AROMATICS
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CHLORINATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
CHROMATOGRAPHY
CONTAMINATION
DESIGN
DIELECTRIC MATERIALS
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
FIELD TESTS
GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY
HALOGENATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
INSULATING OILS
MATERIALS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MONITORING
MONITORS
OILS
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
RADIATION MONITORS
SAMPLING
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOILS
SURFACE CONTAMINATION MONITORS
TESTING
TRANSFORMERS