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TRAINING COURSE ON HAZARDOUS WASTE TECHNOLOGIES FOR POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS (PCBs)

May 21 – 25, 2001
Audio Visual Room, National Engineering Center (NEC)
University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City

Sponsors:

• Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB), Philippines

• United States – Asia Environmental Partnership (US-AEP)

• United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA)

• University of the Philippines, Diliman

Organizer:

• Pacific Basin Consortium for Hazardous Waste Research and Management (PBC)  
  

 Trainor:

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

INTRODUCTION:

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were first introduced in the commercial market in 1930 for wide application as dielectric fluid in electrical capacitors and electrical transformers because of their outstanding physical and chemical characteristics.

Although the sole manufacture of PCBs in the United States stopped production in 1977 because of widespread contamination causing health and other serious environmental effects, PCBs are still found in a wide variety of industrial uses today.  PCB-containing transformers and capacitors remain in use, and exposure may occur during repair or in accidents involving electrical equipment.

In the Philippines, many PCB capacitors which have been either phased-out or replaced are still in storage.  This option may continue for a couple of years until an appropriate option has been chosen.  Several heavy users of PCBs are power plants, hotels and condominium, high-rise buildings in the Metropolis, etc.

OBJECTIVES:

This workshop aims to provide vital information to enable the government and the industry to control and reduce occupational exposure risks due to storage, transportation, and fire-related hazards.

Specifically, the workshops aims to achieve the following:

1.   Provide training for conducting a PCB inventory by determining the extent of PCB contaminated equipment that may still be in use in the utility and/or commercial industry sector.

2.   Identify the PCB contaminated sites in the country

3.   Provide an overview of treatment technologies and alternatives that can properly dispose of PCB waste materials.

WORKSHOP TOPICS:

1.      Conducting a PCB Inventory

A.     PCB Chemical Structure and Physical Properties

• How PCBs migrate in the environment

• Human health effects of PCBs

B.     Production History in the U.S. and PCB Trade names

C.     Uses of PCBs (commercial and military, electrical equipment and other applications)

D.     PCB Regulation in the Philippines

E.      Identification of PCB-Contaminated Equipment

• Visual inspection techniques

• Sampling and analysis of equipment

• Records search

F.      Identification of PCB-Contaminated Media and Sites

• Worker protection procedures in conducting field inventory inspections

• Field and laboratory soil and water sampling procedures and analyses to determine presence/absence of PCB

• Preliminary assessment of PCB contaminated sites

G.  Recordkeeping, Marking, Storage, and Transport of PCB Materials and Waste

2.      PCB Waste Treatment and Disposal Alternatives

A.     PCB Waste Treatment Alternatives

• Incineration

• Landfilling

• Thermal Desorption

• Chemical Dehalogenation

• Solvent Extraction

• Washing

• Solidification/Stabilization

• Bioremediation

• Vitrification

• Capping/Institutional Controls

B.     Methods for Development and Evaluation of Treatment  Alternatives

• Regulatory criteria

• Cost

• Treatment effectiveness

• Development of cleanup goals

• Community acceptance

Registration Fee:  To be determined

For more information, please contact:

Cherry B. Rivera / Baby Ali

Pacific Basin Consortium for Hazardous Waste Research and Management
Room 317, National Engineering Center (NEC) Building
UP Campus, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines

Telefax:  927-1745
Email:  pbchw@mozcom.com

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