Quantitative Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Congener and Homologue Profile Comparisons

A case study is presented of two sites considered to be potential polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) sources to a waterway that were sampled with site source and waterway sediment samples analyzed for PCB congeners using Method 1668A. Site 1 historical activities included storage and burning of spent PCB-containing transformer fluids. Site 2 contained paved areas that historically used PCB-containing concrete joint material. Several approaches to congener profile comparisons were used to compare the potential source samples presented in this work with sediment samples collected from three cores in the waterway. In addition to qualitative (visual) comparisons, other methods included principal component analysis, the coefficient of determination R2 metric, the cosine theta metric, and homologue double ratio analysis. Collectively, these methods were able to quantitatively determine the degree of similarity between the potential sources and the samples from the three waterway cores and identify the predominant source of contamination.