General Information:

PCB - Congener
A PCB congener is any single, unique well-defined chemical compound in the PCB category. The name of a congener specifies the total number of chlorine substituents , and the position of each chlorine.

EPA/USP Method

The only method currently approved at 40 CFR Part 136 for monitoring PCBs in wastewater is Method 608.3, which only targets seven common Aroclor mixtures. Because most PCB contamination in the environment is highly weathered and often does not resemble any of the Aroclor mixtures and there are non-Aroclor sources of PCB in the environment, Aroclor results are likely to underestimate PCB contamination or provide non-detects in a sample when compared to the analysis of individual PCB congeners. EPA sought to develop a new method that would meet the following goals: 1. Identified and quantified PCBs using individual congeners, not Aroclors 2. Was more sensitive than Method 608.3, but not so sensitive that it is susceptible to background contamination issues 3. Could be implemented at a typical mid-sized full-service environmental laboratory. Method 1628 is for determination of all 209 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) congeners in wastewater and other matrices, by low-resolution gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) using selected ion monitoring (SIM). The method calibrates and quantifies 65 PCB congeners selected by EPA as priorities because of their: • Chromatographic retention times on the column used for this analysis (e.g., first and last eluting congeners in a level of chlorination), • Prevalence in environmental samples, • High concentrations in Aroclors, and • Their toxicities (e.g., the World Health Organization’s list of dioxin-like PCB congeners). Method "https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0296/2155/1241/files/EPA_Method_1668A.pdf?v=1681808749">1668A.pdf?v=1681808749">1668, Revision A (Method 1668A, the Method) is for determination of chlorinated biphenyl congeners (CBs) in water, soil, sediment, biosolids, tissue, and other sample matrices by high resolution gas chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC/HRMS). The CBs that can be determined by this Method are the 12 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) designated as toxic by the World Health Organization (WHO) plus the remaining 197 CBs, approximately 125 of which are resolved adequately on an SPB-octyl gas chromatographic column to be determined as individual congeners. The remaining approximately 70 congeners are determined as mixtures of isomers (co-elutions).

ISO Accreditations and Certifications

Chem Service, Inc. is a leader in the design, development, production, distribution, and servicing of organic neat and synthetic reference materials and has achieved multiple industry certifications:

Accredited to ISO 17034:2016
Accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2017
Registered and Certified to the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System

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Chem Service General product catalog download (PDF)
Chem Service Pesticides catalog download (PDF)