Concentration and Microbial Dechlorination of Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Wastewater

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic pollutants that consist of a group of chemicals that can cause detrimental effects, when humans and animals are exposed to them in the environment. The chemical persistence and hydrophobicity of these molecules has rendered it difficult to quantitatively model their transport through the wastewater treatment process. The study site, the District of Columbia’s wastewater treatment facility (Blue Plains) is of interest since they must comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) PCB discharge limits.

The objective of this project was to analyze PCB monitoring data in order to develop methods of increasing PCB dechlorinating efficiency in the wastewater treatment process. Preliminary data shows that more sampling is necessary to avoid extrapolation errors. Additional process sampling will define methods for modeling PCB transformation in the wastewater treatment process.