FORMATION OF POLYAROMATIC HYDROCARBONS AND POLYCHLORINATED ORGANIC-COMPOUNDS IN MUNICIPAL WASTE LANDFILL FIRES

Polyaromatic hydrocarbon and polychlorinated biphenyl concentrations w ere determined in the working air at two municipal landfill fires. At the first waste site the fire was ignited intentionally, and at the ot her site the waste material caught fire spontaneously. Burnt waste sam ples, collected during the fires were analyzed for polyaromatic hydroc arbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, chlorophenols and polychlorinated b enzenes. PAH and PCB concentrations in the working air were below the threshold limit values at both sites, and PAH, PCB, CP and CBz concent rations in the burnt waste samples were low. The same PAH isomers (phe nanthrene, fluoranthene and pyrene) were dominant both in the air and in the waste samples at both sites. The waste material evidently affec ts chlorocompound emissions, as PCB concentrations in the air and in t he burnt waste samples were several orders of magnitude higher al the site of the spontaneous fire than at the experimental site.