Document KRGZQ9QjQdXwKnZ5xQ1gb4wM2

Oakland, CA (Alameda Co.) Tribune (Cir. D. 176,563) (Cir.S. 204,118) m OCT- 2 0 ing a new method for turning toxic industrial chemicals called PCBs into reusable oil and ordinar^tSfWfe salt. The method was developed re cently at Franklin Institute Research Laboratory of Philadelphia. It in volves the mixing of modified so dium salts of polyethylene glycol (NaPEG) with PCBs -- polychlori nated biphenyls used between 1929 and 1978 primarily in the manufac ture of electrical transformers and capacitors. . The federal Environmental Pro tection Agency has given the insti tute permission to start testing the method beginning Oct. 26, said Dr. Steve Osborn, technical manager for the institute's program. If the process is successfully demonstrated and approved, it will eliminate the need to transport PCBs to sites for burning or burial. It would also make it possible to treat chemical spills directly on the ground, Osborn said. - The EPA in 1978 banned further manufacture of PCBs -- which have also been used in carbonless carbon paper, hydraulic pumps, caulking compounds, inks, paints and insect . sprays -- because they were suspect-, ed of causing cancer and birth de fects. The NaPEG is stirred into the PCBs and heated to slightly above the boiling point for water, Osborn said. The sodium then strips the chlorine away from the PCBs, leav ing sodium chloride -- ordinary table salt. The testing process will take about a month, he said, beginning with tests on oil with small concen trations of PCBs. The tests, which have also been approved by the city of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources, will be done on PCBs at a Philadelphia Ele<zd* trie Co. maintenance shop.