Author

Vivek Mann

Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

5-2022

School/College

College of Science, Engineering, and Technology (COSET)

Degree Name

MS in Chemistry

Committee Chairperson

Mahmoud Saleh

Committee Member 1

Bobby Wilson

Committee Member 2

Alamelu Sundaresan

Committee Member 3

Daryl Wilkerson

Keywords

Electron Capture Detector, Gas Chromatography, Persistent organic pollutants, Polychlorinated Biphenyls, Transformer oil

Abstract

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB’s) are a group of synthetic chemicals which are environmentally insistent that were once used as coolants and lubricants in paints, heat transfer fluids, transformers, capacitors, caulking materials and other electrical materials owning to their property of good insulators. PCBs are persistent organic pollutants since they are persistent, resistant to biodegradation, bioaccumulate and have shown to cause a variety of deleterious effects on human health and the environment. Due to this the manufacturing of PCBs was banned in the United States in 1977. Although, production of PCBs has reportedly stopped, the potential or actual release of PCBs into the environment has not, as significant number of existing PCBs continue in use (electrical transformers and capacitors) or in storage. The Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPS) has already banned any further manufacture of nine transformer oil samples collected randomly from different sites. A standard quantitative analysis calibration curve was created using clean transformer oil spiked with 5 different concentration and using decachlorobiphenyl as internal standard. Selective ion GC with electron capture device was performed on each sample, and the amount of PCBs were estimated using the calibration curve.

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