PCBs Production in Russia

First polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were produced in the USA in 1929 by the company “Monsanto”. Due to their unique physicochemical properties the chemicals enjoyed a wide use in developed countries.

In the USSR polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were produced in 1939-1993. As of today, there are around 10.000 transformers and 500.000 capacitors in power systems and other industries, which use PCBs as a dielectric. The total amount of PCBs in these installations is estimated at 30.000t.

PCBs were produced by two companies in the European region of Russia. During the period 1939-1993 these companies produced around 180.000t of PCBs of three main types:

• Sovol, a mixture of tetra- and pentachlorinated biphenyls, was used as plasticizer in inks and lacquers
• Sovtol, a mixture of sovol with 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene, especially in ratio 9:1, called sovtol-10, was used in transformers
• Trichlorobiphenyl (TCB), a mixture of isomers of trichlorobiphenyl, was used in capacitors.

Small amounts of PCB-containing chemicals (hexol, mixture of pentachlorobiphenyl and hexachlorobutadiene) were produced for a short period of time by the pilot plant of VNITIG (the Soviet Union Research Institute of herbicides, Ufa).

Sovol was widely used in industry in a mixture with chloronaphtalenes or trichlorobensenes. The mixture of sovol (92.5%) and a-nitronaphtalene (7.5%) was assigned the name “nitrosovol”. Mixtures of PCBs with paraffin and ceresin were used for impregnating paper capacitors working at high temperatures.

In 1999-2000 within an international cooperation project an inventory of PCBs and PCB-containing electrical machinery located in Russia was drawn. This inventory did not take into account the facilities belonging to the Russian Ministry of Defence, and a number of subjects of the Russian Federation, which is why the inventory might be regarded as exploratory.

Based on the data of PCB users acquired from the PCB-producing factories, it is possible to classify PCB-containing chemicals into the following types:

• Plasticizing sovol
• Sovtol-10
• Trichlorobiphenyl (TCB)

Plasticizing Sovol

Plasticizing sovol was mainly used in paint and varnish industry as an additive component to improve the properties of paints. There were identified six paint and varnish manufacturers which produced PCB-containing materials. Together with paints this part of PCB was distributed among multiple consumers and was most likely used for its designated purpose. In the USSR PCBs were generally used as dielectrics in capacitors and transformers; in relatively small amounts – as plasticizers in varnishes, plastics (to get polyvinylchloride); as lubricant, to increase fire resistance and insulating properties of electrical wires; in very small amounts – as fungicide for wood protection.

PCB-containing lubricants were produced by three petroleum oil factories, an oil refinery, by the plant “Nefteorgsintez” and by the plant of lubricants and cooling liquids. These lubricants have been most likely already used up, and it is impossible to find out where and when exactly they were in use. Until 1969 sovol was used as insulating liquid in capacitors in the amount of 3.000-4.000t, including around 1.000t used at the Serpuchov plant “Kondensator” (JSC “SKZ KVAR”).

The main consumers of plasticizing sovol were paint and varnish producing factories.

The other major purpose of use of plasticizing sovol was lubricant production. The following manufacturers acquired plasticizing sovol for this purpose:

• Petroleum oil plant, Nizhny Novgorod
• Petroleum oil plant, Saint Petersburg
• Petroleum oil plant, Orenburg
• “Nefteorgsintez” plant, Perm
• Plant of lubricants and cooling liquids, Perm

Individual purchases of plasticizing sovol in small quantities were made by the textile glass plant in Ufa, by the plant “Electropribor” in Fryasino in Moscovskaya Oblast and by a number of other factories.

Sovtol-10

Sovtol0-10 was mainly used as insulating liquid for transformer production at the Chirchik transformer plant.

The main user of sovtol-10 was the transformer plant in the city of Chirchik in Tashkentskaya Oblast in Uzbekistan. Other industries used sovtol-10 in much smaller amounts. A number of car industry enterprises, certain manufacturers in the petrochemical and timber industries, iron and steel industry, machine industry, as well as a number of construction companies, mainly in Tulskaya Oblast, are among those companies who used sovtol-10 in relatively small amounts.

Trichlorobiphenyl (TCB)

The following plants used TCB for capacitor production:

• Capacitor plant, Serpuchov (today known as AOOT “KVAR”)
• Capacitor plant, Ust-Kamenogorsk (Kazakhstan)
• Electrical engineering plant, Gyumri (Armenia)
• “Armelectrokondensator”, Gyumri (Armenia)

In 1968-1987 the above mentioned capacitor plants produced around 2.300.000 capacitors for all industries. In 1987 the Serpuchov capacitor plant stopped the production of capacitors with TCB; however, it continued producing capacitors. Since 1987 the production of capacitors filled only with environmentally safe insulators has been established. 

The plant in Chirchik (Uzbekistan) produces today transformers filled with petroleum-based or synthetic oils which do not contain PCBs.

Production capacity and volume of production of PCB at the Dzerzhinsk PO “Orgsteklo”

The chart shows that in 1980-1989 the production capacity of sovol of the PO “Orgsteklo” was 1600t/year, that of sovtol-10 – 1200t/year, of trichlorobiphenyl (TCB) – 5480t/year. The production capacity had been decreasing toward the halt in production. The actual production volume was almost as high as the production capacity.

The total production capacity of the plant for sovol and sovtol in 1939 in the USSR was 1615t/year; in 1980 it reached 2800t/year. In 1939-1980 some 58.000t of sovol and sovtol were produced; hence the total volume of production of sovol and sovtol during the whole period of plant operation amounted to approximately 75.000t.

Production of sovol and sovtol at the Novomoskovsky OAO “Orgsintez”

In 1972-1981 the Novomoskovsky OAO “Orgsintez” produced approximately 18.000t of sovol and sovtol in total, 34.500t – during the entire operation period.

Hence, together the two plants in Russia have produced circa 110.000t of sovol and sovtol, and 70.000t of TCB or 180.000t of tPCB.

Total Production of PCB at the plants “Orgsteklo” (Dzerzhinsk) and “Orgsintez” (Novomoskovsk)

The main producer of 1,2,4-trichlorobensene was the Chapayvsky plant, today known as Srednevolzhsky chemicals plant (the city of Chapaevsk, Samarskaya Oblast)

According to the data acquired for the energy industry in the Russian Federation, 76 enterprises use electrical machinery and equipment filled with PCBs. Only in 25 regions of Russia PCB-containing equipment and oils are not used: Republic of Dagestan, Republic of Komi, Republic of Ingushetia, Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, Archangelskaya Oblast, Sakhalinskaya Oblast, Tumenskaya Oblast, Komi-Permyatsky Orkug, Taimyr Okrug, Chokotsky Okrug, Evenkiysky Okrug, Ulyanovskaya Oblast, Saint-Petersburg and Leningradskaya Oblast, Novgorodskaya Oblast, Pskovskaya Oblast, Kaluzhskaya Oblast, Republic of Kalmykia, Republic of North Osetia-Alania, Permskaya Oblast, Republic of Bashkortostan, Tomskaya Oblast, the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Amurskaya Oblast, Magadanskaya Oblast.

The largest number of PCB-containing electrical equipment (ca.20%) is used in power systems of Russia. Approximately the same number of PCB-containing transformers and capacitors (18%) are used in machine industry.  In addition, such equipment is used in the following industries: iron and steel (14%), food (meat- and fish-processing, bakeries, flour-milling, cold storage facilities etc. – ca.10%), chemicals (9%), construction (6%), mechanical engineering (6%), gas and oil extraction and processing (6%), light industry (textile manufacturers etc. – ca.5%), car making (4%), housing and public utility sector (3%), coal mining (1%).

The distribution of PCB-containing equipment in use or ready for use across industries is as follows:

• Power industry: 173.378 capacitors of various capacity in 144 electrical instalments in 53 power plants;
• Oil industry: 2.036 capacitors and 20 transformers of various capacity in 14 facilities;
• Coal industry: 401 capacitors and 2 transformers of various capacity in 8 facilities;
• Gas industry: no electrical equipment with PCB-containing liquids in use.

In total, the preliminary inventory includes the following amounts of PCBs:

In chemicals and petrochemical industry: 525t, with 84% distributed within three regions – Povolzhsky, Central, Volgo-Vyatsky regions; 16% - in the Northern, West-Siberian, Uralsky, Central-Chernozem regions. For such regions as the North-Western, North-Caucasian, East-Siberian regions and Kaliningradskaya Oblast there are either no data available, or no PCBs used in the industry.

In iron and steel industry: 2999t, with 80% located in two regions – the Uralsky and Northern regions; 20% - in the West-Siberian, East-Siberian, North-Caucasian, Povolzhsky, Central regions. For the Northwestern, Volgo-Vyatsky, Central-Chernozem regions and Kaliningradskaya Oblast there are either no data available, or there are no PCBs in use in the industry.

In non-ferrous industry: 89% PCBs are found in the PCB-containing equipment in the East-Siberian region, 11% - in the Uralsky and Volgo-Vyatsky regions. As for other regions, there is either no PCB-containing equipment, or no available data.

In timber industry, including pulp and paper sector: 97% of PCBs are located in two regions (Northwestern and East-Siberian), 3% - in the Volgo-Vyatsky region. As for other regions, there is either no PCB-containing equipment, or no available data.

In machine industry: 77% of PCBs are located in the Povolzhsky region, 20% - in the North-Caucasian and Volgo-Vyatsky regions, 3% - in the Central-Chernozem region. As for the other seven regions, there is either no PCB-containing equipment in the machine industry, or no available data.

All in all, across the chemicals, petrochemical, steel and iron, non-ferrous, mining, pulp and paper, machine industries and others the allocation of PCB-contaminated equipment is as follows: 62% of PCBs are located in just two regions (the Povolzhsky and Uralsky regions), for two regions there is no data available (the Far-Eastern region and Kaliningradskaya Oblast), in the other seven regions the value is between 0.2% and 8.3%.