METHOD OF DECONTAMINATING ELECTRO-MECHANIC APPARATUS FROM POLYCHLOROBIPHENYL

Abstract: The method of decontaminating electro-mechanical ap­ paratus from polychlorobyphenyl comprises the steps of: - maintaining the apparatus to be decontaminated sub­ merged in a sealed chamber in vapours of a suitable sol­ vent; and - constantly changing the pressure and temperature of this solvent so as to permit at any time a condensation of the solvent vapours on the surfaces under treatment. The solvent vapours can be produced inside the sealed chamber and, by providing a top condenser, a reflux washing can be obtained, or the vapours can be produced outside the sealed chamber and then injected therein at the required pres­ sure and temperature.

Description: T I T L E "METHOD OF DECONTAMINATING ELECTRO-MECHANIC APPARATUS FROM POLYCHLOROBIPHENYL" The present invention generally relates to a method of decontaminating from polychlorobiphenyl electro-mechanic apparatus. As known, for antifire purposes, fluids on the basis of polychlorobiphenyl (PCb) as insulating fluids in electrical apparatus or as hydraulic liquids in mechanical apparatus have been often used in the past. These fluids, generally a mixture of 40% of hexachlorobenzene and 60% of polychorobiphenyl,exhibit antifire properties which assure a reliable operation of electrical or mechanical apparatus even in envi- ronments in which the fire conditions could be promoted. For example, there are in Italy only tens of thousands of transformators, circuit breakers and other electric apparatus still filled with this fluid and an undefined number of hydraulic apparatus almost certainly still contaminated by PC3. The suspected cancerous action or at any rate the harmfulness of PCB has caused the use of these fluids in the above mentioned apparatus to be suspended, which fluids are gradually substituted by other less dangerous fluids. The aggressiveness of fluids on the basis of PCH towards the components of these apparatus is so great that their decontamination becomes an extremely difficult operation and the great harmfulness thereby exhibited causes it to be more convenient to bury all the apparatus into suitably prepared pits than to try a decontamination thereof. Of course, for economical reasons, this has given rise to the problem of the recovery of these apparatus by trying to decontaminate then as much as possible by reducing the PCB contents at least within limits which are permissible and tolerable from the ecological standpoint. Recently, attempts have been made to wash the contaminated apparatus with suitable solvents in a liquid phase, however this method has proved to be difficult, time consuming, expensive and it has not succesfully. In fact, the PCB absorbed by materials such as paper and wood which are normally present in most apparatus and the PCB adsorbed by the inner portion of the magnetic lamination pack or the electric windings cannot be totally removed, at least in a short time, because of its aggressiveness and therefore a portion thereof remains attached to these apparatus so that, with the passing of time, it can be dissolved in the new liquid used in substitution thereof, thereby forming a contaminating element for the latter. It is therefore the main object of the present iWCl)- tion to obviate the above mentioned disadvantages of tile known method by providing a new method permitting tlie above mentioned apparatus to be decontaminated as much as possible, however within ecological acceptable limits so that the appa ratus can be reused. It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of decoutamitiating from PCB electrical and mechanical apparatus, which can be carried out without the intervention of operators in contact with the PCB. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a iiethod of the above mentioned kind, which assures in the most absolute way any possibility of environment contaminations. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method of the above mentioned kind, which provides a quick decontaminating action so as to be inexpen sive, wid which c-an be carried out as simply as possible without requiring sophisticated and expensive equipment. These and other objects of the present invention, which will be more apparent from the following desoription, are attained by a method of decontaminating electro-mechanical apparatus from polychlorobyphenyl, which, according to the invention, is characterized in that it comprises the steps of: - maintaining the apparatus to be decontaminated submerged in a sealed chamber in vapours of a suitable solvent; and - constantly changing the pressure and temperature of this solvent so as to permit at any time a condensation of the solvent vapours on the surfaces under treatment. According to a feature of the present invention, the solvent vapoursare generated in the sealed chamber by associated heating means. According to another feature of the present invention the solvent vapours are generated in the sealeco chamber by heating means and condensed at the top of the sealed chamber so as to perform a reflux washing of tIse apparatus. According to a further feature of the invention, tlie solvent vapours are generated outside the sealed chamber and then injected therein to wash the apparatus. The solvent is suitably choosen so as to have, in addition to a dissolving power with respect to the polyonlorobiphenyl, also a chemical iiiertia thereto so as not to give rise to compounds or combinations therewith. The solvent has preferably all inherent non toxicity to the contact and the inhalation of its vapors and is also compatible with the apparatus materials. As a further feature, the solvent has a distillation temperature well lower than that of FCB iii order that tlle FCB can be readily recovered for its reuse and possible PCks entrainments during the washing can be avoided. Advantageously, the distillation temperature of the solvent is lower than the maximum temperature tolerable by the apparatus to be decontaminated. The distillation temperature of the solvent is sui- stably higher than the room temperature for handling and conservation facility thereof and in order to have tie possibility of simply using water at room temperature for the solvent condensation and moreover the solvent caii be destil led without rests. Preferably, dearomated leptane or trichloroethane is employed as solvent. According to still another feature of the invention the condensing temperature of the solvent vapours is set stepwise as a function of the average temperature of the apparatus to be decontaminated. The invention will be now described iu more details in connection with a preferred embodiment thereof, given by way of example only and therefore not intended in a limiting sense, which is shown in the accompaliying draw ing, wherein: : Fig.l is a diagrammatic sectioned view of a box containing the electric apparatus to be decontaminated, for example a transformer, and provided with the necessary means for carrying out the method of the invention; Fig. 2 diagrammatically shows the solvent action during the washing step in a liquid phase; Fig.3 diagrammatically shows the solvent action during the washing step in a vapour phase; Fig.4 is a plot of the diagram of the solvent condensation temperature vs.time, during the washing process; ; Figs. 5 and 6 show a diagram of the PCB contents in the apparatus under treatment vs. the removal time thereof for the liquid phase washing and the vapour phase washing respectively, showing the more than good results obtained by means of the method of the invention As can be seen from Fig.1, the apparatus under treatment is put in a box X which is heated on the bottom and on the four lateral walls by means of jackets E through which a suitable heating fluid passes, which is fed througii an inlet G, through a valve I and is discharge' through an outlet H. On the top of the box B a condenser L is arranged through which water flows, the temperattre of which is controlled by a thermostat ;i coiitrolliiig a water discharge valve N. Inside the box B the temperature is controlled by a thermostat F controlling the valve I and the pressure is controlled by a vacuostat 0 controlliiig a solvent discharge valve P, everything so as to keep constantly the apparatus A submerged in the solvent vapours under vacuum and to cause the solvent vapours to be always condensed on the walls thereof alid to flow down-wardly thereon thereby developing their flooding action accordin-- to the plot of Fig.4, where Ti designates the vapour con- densation temperature and T2 designates the average temperature of the apparatus A under treatment. Preferably tiie solvent used in this case is dearomated eptane which exhibits all of the above mentioned features for perfor milig the washing operation. As can be seen from Fig.4, the temperature Ti is stepwise controlled as a function of the temperature 't'2 taken over by the apparatus A, i.e. as the temperature T2 of the apparatus A approaches to vapour condensation temperature TI, the latter is increased of a step A T, and this operation is repeated until the washing is eiided. The box B is further provided with a solveiit inlet S, a thermometer V for measuring the solveiit vapour temperature and an @inert gas source R connected to the box through a valve Z, a non-return safety valve t. calibrated so as to assure that the pressure inside the box B does not exceed the safety values and a drainage tube @ for the gravity discharge of the polychlorobiphenyl. Once the washing' operation is ended it is saffi- cient to evacuate the box B through the valve P and to condensate the solvent vapours, by recoveriiig all tiie solvent through the outlet C while tulle removed PCB is readily discharged through the drainage tube D. The inert gas source it during the solvent discharge operation is connected to tl,e box i3 in order to avoid the air to enter therein, which could give rise to possible combustion of the hot solvent. Although the described embodiment shows a washing method with solvent reflux, the same method could be carried out without the top condenser, or it could be otherwise carried out by providing outside the box ss a solvent vapour source and then injecting the solvent vapours into the box B following the requirements for performing the washing operation. Figs.2 and 3 diagrammatically show the action of the solvent on the PCB during a liquid phase washing operation and during a vapour phase washing operation, respectively. As can be seen from Fig.2, the area A is static and therefore there is a poor solvent substitution which, when it is saturated, stops its penetration, whereas iii Fig. 3 there is a continuous solvent substitution with resulting higher penetrability into the components of the apparatus to be decontaminated. By means of the method according to the invention an automatic washing without the intervention of operators in contact with the PCB occurs. During the frill washing cycle all the necessary equipment does not come into contact with PCB and, once the washiti operation is ended, it is fully cleaned and decontaminated, with the exception of the lower PCB collecting zone. Furthermore, aijy possibility of environmental contamination is avoided since the system does not provide circuits for tile PCB containing solvent (pumps, pipes, connectors etc.), wchich could give rise to contamination problems. The washing efficiency is very good since the solvent retains always its dissolving capacity without ever reaching tlie satu- ration and moreover the solvent can completely penetrate within interstices also of capillary nature. The decontamination operation is extremely quick. It has been experimentally proved oil a tipic series of electric transformators that the PCB embedded in the paper or wood or enclosed ill too clear walls forming i'ie magnetic core or the wiiscliilgs thereof, is very difficul@ to remove (see plot of Fig.5, wherein the curve shows the PCB decontamination efficiency with liquid phase solvent, where after about three hours of treatment the decontami- nation rate is about 40% of PCB) whereas,according to this method, the PCB is alnost fully removed in the sailie time (see Fig. 6 wherein the curve shows that iii the same time as in Fig.5 the PCB has been removed in a very high percentage). From tests effectively carried out it has been proved that the amount of PCB remained on a transformator containing 200 Kg of insulating liquid is less tllall 100 r- Another advantage of this invention is the very low amount of solvent required for the decontamination and easy recovery tijereof since it is sufficient ati amount less than 1% of the amount required for carrying out tIie liquid phase washing, which results in a lower cost of solvent recovery, as this can be recovered by takin advantage of the heat supplied by ttie heaters by simply evacuating the box once the washing is ended and the PCB has been separated therefrom The so decontaminated apparatus can than be recovered and reused by substituting for the PCB an usual oil or a silicone oil or a liqaid usually employed to this end. From the foregoing it will be readily apparent that the method according to this invention permits a decontamination from PCB with very high yields to be obtained, what could not be obtained till now. @lthough the present invention has been illastrated and described in connection with a preferred emdobiment only, it should be understood that various changes and modifications can be made thereto by those skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of the inventioii.

Claims: C L A I M S 1. Method of decontaminating from polychlorobiphenyl electrical or mechanical apparatus, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: - maintaining the apparatus to be decontaminated submer ged in a sealed chamber in vapours of a suitable sol vent; and - constantly changing the pressure and temperature of this solvent so as to permit at any time a condensation of the solvent vapours on the surfaces under treatment. 2. method as claimed in clam I, characterized in that the solvent vapours are generated in the sealed chamber by associated heating means. 3* method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the solvent vapours are generated ili the sealed cham- ber by heating means and condensed at the top pf the sea led chamber so as to perform a reflux washing of tile apparatus. 4. Method as claimed iii claim I, characterized ill that the solvent vapours are generated outside the sealed chamber and then injected therein to wash the apparatus. 5. Method as claimed in anyone of claims 1-4, characterized in that the solvent is suitably choosen so as to have, in addition to a dissolving power with respect to the polychlorobiphenyl, also a chemical inertia thereto so as not to give rise to compounds or combination therewith. 6. Method as claimed in anyone of claims 1-4, characterized in that the solvent has preferably an inherent non toxicity to the contact and the inhalation of its vapours, is also compatible with Lite apparatus materials aiid has a distillation temperature well lower than that of PCB in order that the PCB can be readily recovered for its reuse and possible PCB entrainments during the washing can be avoided 7. Method as claimed in anyone of claims 1-4, characterized in that the distillation temperature of the solvent is lower than the maximum temperature tolerable by the apparatus to be decontaminated and suitably higher than the room temperature for handling and conservation facility thereof and in order to llave the possibility of simply using water at room temperature for the solvent; condensation and moreover the solveiit call be distilled without rests. 8. Method as claimed in anyone of the preceding clains, characterized in that dearomated heptane or trichloroethane is employed as solvent. 9. Method as claimed in anyone of the preceding claims, characterized in that the condensing temperature of the solvent vapours is set stepwise as a futiction of the average temperature of the apparatus to be decontaminated

Inventors: COLOMBINI, AURELIO, COLOMBINI, VITTORIO, COLOMBO, ENRICO, COPPO, MARIO
Applicants: DECOMAN S.R.L.
Application year: 1983
Main classification: A62D3
IPC codes: B08B3, C10G21