Budget calculations for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Northern Hemisphere — a single-box approach

Abstract

Numerous studies show that the environmental concentrations of PCBs have been decreasing since the production and use of PCBs in most industrialised countries was banned in the 1970s. However, most of these studies have been conducted close to historical sources. The few studies conducted in remote locations detect no trend of decreasing concentrations over the past 20–30 years. These observations suggest that PCBs may be removed more slowly from the environment, when viewed from a global or hemispheric perspective. The present study estimates the mass fluxes of individual PCB congeners in the Northern Hemisphere in order to elucidate the most important removal processes and the rate of decrease one may expect with complete cessation of emissions. Atmospheric reaction lifetimes, open-ocean settling fluxes and the pools and mobility of PCBs in the terrestrial environment are shown to be crucial parameters. However, the calculations identify important gaps of knowledge regarding predictions of environmental half-lives of PCBs. The results suggest that highly chlorinated congeners such as PCB 153 and 180 may be persistent in the global environment with annual rates of decrease of less than 1%. The compiled environmental data also highlight large differences between the different PCB congeners. Although this paper is based on more than 800 PCB measurements it should be considered a starting point for further research aiming to quantify the global fate of toxic and persistent organic substances such as the PCBs.