Accumulation of polychlorinated biphenyls in fabrics in a contaminated building, and the effect of laundering

This research investigates sorption of PCBs to fabrics in a contaminated indoor environment and the effect of laundering on PCB removal from the fabrics. Eight articles of clothing were exposed to the air in a PCB-contaminated building. The background air concentration was 670 ng/m³ PCB_total with PCB-52 being the main congener. Air and fabric samples were collected for analysis before and periodically throughout the experiment. After 25 weeks, the remaining fabrics were washed and cut into three pieces each. One part was dried in the contaminated building, second in a PCB-free building and third in a mechanical drier. The PCB mass concentration increased during the first 6-10 weeks for all investigated fabrics, after which some fabrics approached equilibrium for more volatile congeners. Mass-normalized cloth-air partition coefficients were quantified for 9 congeners; for PCB-52, these ranged from 10^6.1 to 10^7.0 which were consistent with previously reported values. Partition coefficients of PCBs were observed to increase with their respective octanol-air partition coefficients. Washing and drying clothes resulted in the removal between 22% and 84% of PCBs. There was no difference in removal percentage after air-drying in clean or contaminated air. Drying in a mechanical drier removed significantly more PCBs than air-drying.