Estimation of the contribution of a municipal waste incinerator to the overall emission and human intake of PCBs in Wilrijk, Flanders.
The contribution of the emission of PCBs by a municipal waste incinerator in Wilrijk, a relatively industrialized district in the largest city of Flanders, to the total emission to air and to the total human intake was estimated. Therefore it was compared to the emission of PCBs by evaporation from PCB containing applications (transformers, capacitors, paint, ink, etc.) and to the intake of PCBs with food. As there was a lack of PCB data from the incinerator, the PCB emission concentration was estimated using three different approaches. A PCB measurement of the incinerator emission, performed later on, fell within the predicted range of 0.0004-0.005 ng TEQ/Nm3. Emission of PCBs from PCB containing applications and intake from food were deduced from information available on Flemish and European level. The results indicate a PCB contribution from the incinerator to local emissions between 0.3% and 3% of the emission from PCB containing applications and a contribution to human intake less than 6 x 10(-4)% of the intake from food.
Van Gerven
Tom
T
Laboratory for Environmental Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Catholic University of Leuven, De Croylaan 46, 3001 Leuven, Belgium. thomas.vangerven@cit.kuleuven.ac.be
Geysen
Daneel
D
Vandecasteele
Carlo
C
D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001530:Belgium; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D017745:Incineration; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis*; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000379:methods
D000393:Air Pollutants; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls