Hirai, Y.; Sakai, S. (2019) Presented at The 5th 3R International Conference on Material Cycles and Waste Management, Bangkok, Thailand, February 27, 2019
ABSTRACT
Emission factors of PCB from PCB waste storage sites were estimated. Air samples were collected at ten storage sites in Japan in the winter of 2013-2014, the summer of 2014, and the autumn of 2015. In addition, temperature, room volume, ventilation rate, and PCB amount stored in the storage rooms were recorded. Air samples were collected monthly from June 2016 to January 2017 at two storage sites, where most of the PCB waste was sent for disposal during these periods, in order to monitor the changes in the PCB concentrations. The median PCB concentration in the storage room and at the entrance of the storage room was approximately 1000 ng/m3, and that outside the storage room was approximately 1 ng/m3. These concentrations were higher than the median PCB air concentration (approximately 0.1 ng/m3) at POPs monitoring stations in Japan. The PCB homolog profiles inside and outside the storage rooms were close to each other, showing the typical patterns of Kanechlors (KC-300 or KC-500). The emission factors of total PCBs for the ten storage sites ranged from 10-9 (year-1) to 10-3 (year-1). The emission factors in summer was approximately one order of magnitude higher than those in winter. Emission factors of lower chlorinated homologues were higher than those of higher chlorinated homologues. The PCB concentrations in the vacant storage room decreased with slight delay from the disposal of PCB waste.