Section Four
WASTE TREATMENT PROCESSES
A. PHYSICAL/CHEMICAL
25    TREATMENT OF STORMWATER RUNOFF FOR PCB
REMOVAL
Henri J. Vincent, Project Manager
Woodard & Curran Inc.
Portland, Maine 04102
Michael R. Albert, Vice-President
Woodard & Curran Inc.
Portland, Maine 04102
INTRODUCTION
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were used in industry as heat transfer fluids, hydraulic fluids,
and dielectric fluids until the early 1970s. Non-industrial uses began in the 1930s and continued until
1960 in such commodities as paints, inks, dedusting agents, and pesticides.
When scientific studies presented evidence in the late 1960s that exposure to PCBs could be
hazardous to human health, sales of PCBs were voluntarily stopped, although the use of existing
stores of PCBs continued to be used and released to the environment. In 1976 the Toxic Substances
Control Act (TSCA, Public Law 94-469) was promulgated and: (1) specifically prohibited production
of PCBs within the United States; (2) regulated the disposal of materials contaminated by PCBs; and
(3) restricted the use of PCBs already in service.1
Many of the industries that had used PCBs were faced with contaminated process equipment,
landfills, yard areas, and building structures. Under TSCA, removal from service, disposal, and
decontamination are addressed with the low-level cut-off being originally set at 50 mg/kg. At the
discretion of state laws; this low-level cut-off has become site specific.
The Clean Water Act (Public Law 92-500) and subsequent amendments addressed, among other
issues, the release of toxic substances into U.S. waters. Studies have shown that when PCBs are
introduced into the aquatic environment, they are dissolved in the water, adsorbed into solids suspended in the water, or accumulated in the trophic levels.1 This leads to uptake by aquatic organisms
and subsequent introduction into the human food chain. As such, many states have developed their
own ambient water quality standards for PCBs in surface waters.
As an example, New York State has set the Water Quality Standard for Class A waters at 1.0 part
per trillion (6 NYCRR Part 701). To meet this water quality standard, discharge limits below 1.0 parts
per billion have been specified in several state-issued SPDES permits. It is easy to see how, with many
industrial sites containing soils with even relatively low PCB concentrations, storm and process waters
can become contaminated to the point that treatment for removal of PCBs is required.
SITE HISTORY
The St. Lawrence aluminum reduction plant, operated by Reynolds Metals Company, began operations in 1959. Located in Massena, New York, along the St. Lawrence River, it derives its electricity
from the Robert Moses Hydroelectric Power Dam. The St. Lawrence plant has an annual production
capacity of 123,000 metric tons of aluminum and covers approximately 20 acres on a 165-acre parcel
of land. Alumina is used as the raw material in the reduction process to produce metallic aluminum,
which in turn is molded into aluminum foundry ingot, T-ingot, and extrusion billet to be used by
others for fabrication in the transportation, housing, and packaging markets.
47th Purdue Industrial Waste Conference Proceedings, 1992 Lewis Publishers, Inc., Chelsea, Michigan 48118.
Printed in U.S.A.
217