Food Research Institute

SKLÁRŠOVÁ, B. – ŠIMKO, P. – ŠIMON, P. – DROBNÁ, B.
Possibility of elimination of polychlorinated biphenyls from liquid media by sorption onto low-density polyethylene packaging material
Journal of Food and Nutrition Research, 47, 2008, No. 3, s. 145-149

Peter Šimko, VÚP Food Research Institute, Priemyselná 4, P. O. Box 25, SK – 824 75 Bratislava 26, Slovakia. Tel.: 00 421 2 55574622, e-mail: peter.simko@vup.sk

Summary: Polar (water) and non-polar (rapeseed oil) media were spiked with six polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), filled into low-density polyethylene (LDPE) cylindrical receptacles and the PCB concentrations were followed within 72 h. It was found that PCB concentration in water decreased considerably during the experiments due to the adsorption of PCB onto the walls of the receptacles. By using of the experimental data, diffusion and the distribution coefficients were obtained for all studied compounds for polar water using a kinetic equation. Comparing LDPE surface and the surface of monomolecular PCB film to be calculated on the base of difference between initial and infinite PCB concentrations as well as surface PCB molecule sizes, it was deduced that the mechanism of PCB removal can be characterized either as monomolecular adsorption combined with subsequent diffusion into LDPE, or as two-layer molecular adsorption. Regarding rapeseed oil, it was found that LDPE was not an efficient material for removal of PCB from this medium because PCB concentrations remained at a constant level during the experiment, probably due to stronger interactions oil-PCB in comparison to LDPE-PCB interactions.

Keywords: polychlorinated biphenyls; low-density polyethylene; adsorption; diffusion; elimination of contaminants

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