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Laboratory Study of Polychlorinated Biphenyl Contamination and Mitigation in Buildings -- Part 4. Evaluation of the Activated Metal Treatment System (AMTS) for On-site Destruction of PCBs
Citation:
Liu, X., Z. Guo, C. Mocka, A. Stinson, N. Roache, AND J. Nardin. Laboratory Study of Polychlorinated Biphenyl Contamination and Mitigation in Buildings -- Part 4. Evaluation of the Activated Metal Treatment System (AMTS) for On-site Destruction of PCBs. US Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
This report evaluates a chemical method for on-site destruction of PCBs in contaminated building materials developed by NASA. The method is promising but need further improvement and evaluation.
Description:
This is the fourth, also the last, report of the report series entitled “Laboratory Study of Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Contamination and Mitigation in Buildings.” This report evaluates the performance of an on-site PCB destruction method, known as the AMTS method, developed by NASA. The test results show that this method is effective for removing PCBs from painted surfaces but has limited penetrating ability for thick sources such as caulk and concrete. Overall, the AMTS method has the potential to become a viable method for mitigating PCB contamination in buildings. It is promising for treating contaminated masonry materials near the expansion joints after the caulking material is removed because this method can treat sources that contain several thousand ppm PCBs, for which the encapsulation method may not be effective. However, more research is needed to increase the method’s effective penetration depths for thick sources. In addition, the reaction mechanism needs to be verified. The potential effect of the method on indoor air quality during the treatment also needs further evaluation.