Estimation of the contribution of a municipal waste incinerator to the overall emission and human intake of PCBs in Wilrijk, Flanders Tom Van Gerven * , Daneel Geysen, Carlo Vandecasteele Laboratory for Environmental Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Catholic University of Leuven, De Croylaan 46, 3001 Leuven, Belgium Received 30 January 2002; received in revised form 13 May 2002; accepted 21 November 2002 Abstract 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/Nm 3 . 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  10 4 % of the intake from food. Ó 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); Waste incineration; Food contamination; Transformers; Capacitors; Emissions 1. Introduction The United States Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and Environment Canada (1999) identified sev- eral sources of PCBs to the environment: • evaporation and leaks from PCB containing applica- tions. PCBs have been used in closed and open appli- cations. Closed applications include transformers, capacitors and other electrical components such as switches, pressure regulators and circuit breakers. Small capacitors, ink, paint, oil, plasticizer and adhe- sive are examples of open applications. A EU Di- rective (96/59/EG, 1996) aims at cleaning and/or destroying all closed applications by the end of 2010. Flanders has worked out a destruction plan from 2000 until 2005, with possible exceptions until 2010; • incineration of waste materials containing or not containing PCBs; • chemical processes involving carbon, chlorine and high temperature; • illegal dumping of PCB containing waste and bad management of PCB contaminated landfills or sites. Because of their resistance against biodegradation and their hydrophobic properties, PCBs are mainly found in air, soil and sediments and less in water, and * Corresponding author. Tel.: +32-16-322342; fax: +32-16- 322991. E-mail address: thomas.vangerven@cit.kuleuven.ac.be (T. Van Gerven). 0045-6535/$ - see front matter Ó 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0045-6535(03)00233-9 Chemosphere 54 (2004) 1303–1308 www.elsevier.com/locate/chemosphere