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A new method for the routine trace analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls in waste oil and contaminated soil

Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2015.

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Other Authors: Rohwer, Egmont Richard
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2015
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Rohwer, Egmont Richard
author_browse Rohwer, Egmont Richard
author_facet Rohwer, Egmont Richard
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2015 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2015.
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institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
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provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2015
publishDateRange 2015
publishDateSort 2015
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
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source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/50865 A new method for the routine trace analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls in waste oil and contaminated soil Rohwer, Egmont Richard rcromhout@tuks.co.za Havenga, W.J. Cromhout, Reinardt UCTD Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2015. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were used in various industries and equipment such as transformers, paints and capacitors until 1979. PCBs enter the environment through improper disposal by users and manufacturers. The Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants of which South Africa is a signatory states the identification and removal of PCB containing equipment with levels higher than 50 mg/l. PCB analysis in oils and oil contaminated soil is normally expensive in terms of time, instrumentation and uses large volumes of hazardous solvents which further increase cost per sample. Commercial laboratories are constantly under pressure to provide a faster turnaround time per sample at low cost and of an acceptable quality, therefore, a new method was developed to find a balance between these requirements. Numerous methods exist for the extraction and analysis of PCBs in waste oils and soils such as liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) and solid phase extraction (SPE) coupled with detection on GC-MS (gas chromatography- mass spectrometry). Most methods for the extraction and analysis of PCBs are laborious, time consuming and are of high cost per sample which is not suited for a commercial environment where sample throughput is also of cardinal importance. The newly developed method utilizes the interaction of PCBs with dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO) for a fast liquid-liquid extraction that was combined with solid phase microextraction (SPME). For implementation in a commercial laboratory limited sample clean-up is a necessity and, therefore, the sensitivity and selectivity of GC-MS/MS (gas chromatography mass spectrometry/ mass spectrometry) was used. GC-MS/MS is able to filter out most spectral interferences and provides a high level of confidence in terms of identifiers. This fast liquid-liquid extraction using small amount of solvent and automated submerged SPME GCMS/ MS makes this method ideal for commercial laboratories, low cost per sample, fast turnaround time and provides a quality result. Cost is further reduced by using GC-ECD (electron capture detector) for screening of samples, GC-ECD is extremely sensitive for halogenated compounds, ideal for PCB analysis. Robustness of any method is important and more so for commercial laboratories. PCBs were successfully extracted from soil and various oils. Current regulatory limits for total PCBs are 50 mg/l in oil and 610 μg/kg in soil. This method offers a quantification limit of 5.35 mg/l in waste oil and 35 μg/kg in soil which is below the allowed maximum contamination levels (MCL) of these matrices. tm2015 Chemistry MSc Unrestricted 2015-11-25T09:54:00Z 2015-11-25T09:54:00Z 2015/09/01 2015 Dissertation Cromhout, R 2015, A new method for the routine trace analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls in waste oil and contaminated soil, MSc Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/50865> S2015 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/50865 en © 2015 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
A new method for the routine trace analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls in waste oil and contaminated soil
title A new method for the routine trace analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls in waste oil and contaminated soil
title_full A new method for the routine trace analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls in waste oil and contaminated soil
title_fullStr A new method for the routine trace analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls in waste oil and contaminated soil
title_full_unstemmed A new method for the routine trace analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls in waste oil and contaminated soil
title_short A new method for the routine trace analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls in waste oil and contaminated soil
title_sort new method for the routine trace analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls in waste oil and contaminated soil
topic UCTD
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/50865