SBIR Phase I: A Transformational Method to Extract Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) from Building Masonry

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响是解决影响我们老化的学校和基础设施的遗留多氯联苯（PCB）问题。 美国环境保护署（EPA）估计，在1979年禁止多氯联苯之前，多达55，000所学校和800，000所政府和非政府建筑可能已经使用含有多氯联苯的油漆，填缝剂，胶粘剂和粘合剂建造。简单地去除多氯联苯的来源，希望它将消除危险已被证明是徒劳的，因为越来越多的数据显示，多氯联苯从风化填缝可以渗透到6英寸深的相邻多孔砌体（例如，混凝土、砖和砂浆）。目前，全部拆除和选择拆除（即，部分拆除）是唯一的EPA批准的PCB去除方案，这两种方法都很快填满了少数愿意接受它的垃圾填埋场。拟议的技术创新将把一项休眠的政府专利转化为一种非破坏性的处理方法，该专利提取油漆中的PCB，渗透并提取建筑砖石中吸收的PCB。 这样的创新将对政府机构和学校改造委员会产生直接和有益的影响，因为他们负担不起拆旧建新的费用。 该SBIR第1阶段项目建议证明两种专有溶剂-糊状配方在从不同砖石类型中提取多氯联苯的可行性（例如，（已删除） 将溶剂膏直接涂在受污染的砖石表面上，并在预定的处理时间后刮去。 一旦应用，亲脂性醇在溶剂糊渗透砖石的开放孔隙空间，并溶解PCB分子，它遇到沿着。从无机砖石颗粒中解吸PCB并进入所施加的糊剂的过程通过亲脂性醇将疏水性PCB拉向糊剂来辅助-通过毛细作用。技术挑战包括解吸疏水性Aroclor的粘性光谱（例如，1248，1254，1260）添加到油漆，填缝剂和粘合剂在季节性凉爽（50°F），潮湿的天气。 由于替代性多氯联苯处理技术的成功商业化需要根据多氯联苯法规获得环境保护局的批准，（40 CFR 761），两种溶剂的性能-该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过利用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响进行评估，被认为值得支持审查标准。

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1 project is solving the legacy polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) problem impacting our aging schools and infrastructure. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates as many as 55,000 schools and 800,000 government and non-government buildings may have been constructed with PCB-laden paints, caulks, mastics and adhesives before the 1979 PCBs ban. Simply removing the PCB-laden source in hopes it will eliminate the hazard has proven futile as a growing body of data is revealing PCBs from weathered caulk can leach as deep as 6-inches into adjacent porous masonry (e.g., concrete, brick, and mortar). Currently, total demolition and select removal (i.e., partial demolition) are the only EPA-approved PCB removal options and both are quickly filling up the handful of landfills willing to take it. The proposed technical innovation will transform a dormant government patent that extracts PCBs in paint, into a non-destructive treatment method that penetrates and extracts PCBs absorbed in building masonry. Such an innovation will have a direct and beneficial impact on the government agencies and school renovation commissions who cannot afford to demolish the old and rebuild new. This SBIR Phase 1 project proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of two proprietary solvent-paste formulations at extracting PCBs from different masonry types after the source (e.g., caulk) has been removed. The solvent-paste is applied directly to the contaminated masonry surface and scraped off after a pre-determined treatment period. Once applied, the lipophilic alcohol in the solvent-paste penetrates the masonry’s open pore spaces, and solubilizes the PCB molecules it encounters along the way. The process of desorbing the PCBs from the inorganic masonry particles and into the applied paste is aided – via capillary action – by the lipophilic alcohol drawing the hydrophobic PCBs toward the paste. Technical challenges include desorbing the stickier spectrum of hydrophobic Aroclors (e.g., 1248, 1254, 1260) added to paints, caulks and adhesives in seasonally cool ( 50°F), wet weather. Since successful commercialization of an alternative PCB treatment technology requires approval from EPA in accordance with the PCB regulations (40 CFR 761), the performance of both solvent-pastes will be evaluated against the regulation’s stringent 1 ppm high occupancy cleanup criterion.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.