In mid-December 2013, Sea Marconi responded with pride to the invitation to go to Russia to offer support in managing the PCBs problem, with respect to the Stockholm Convention. The activity was born under the auspices of UNIDO, but a local operator already exists charged with the development of a pilot project on the contaminated (and non) equipment of the railway network of the Russian federation.
Rossijskie železnye dorogi (Russian railways) represent one of the largest global transportation company, with over 1,200,000 employees, about 85,000 km of tracks and hundreds of thousand pieces of electrical equipment with insulating fluids.

The choice of the railway network is strictly linked to its impact on the territory and the obvious consequences both for the environment and social. This is the reason that president Putin put forward at the Duma last year. The priority about the railways is part of the largest implementation of the Stockholm Convention as a concrete environmental protection.

It’s easy to imagine how the railways network represents a strategic infrastructure for Russia, thus investments for 120 billion € are envisaged in 5 years.

Sea Marconi has been picked-up for the 45 years of success in the management of transformers and other electrical equipment with oils contaminated by PCBs, and in particular for the most recent projects dealt with in this field on behalf of world organizations.

The meeting in Russia created the basis for a possible partnership with the local operator in charge and end with an agreement for the first supply, and relevant training for the its use, of the new kit recently developed by Sea Marconi: the kit SM-TCPs (Total Chlorine and PCB screening). This kit, part of the new line Smart field test, represents an innovative solution for the field determination, also by non-chemist personnel, of the contamination by PCBs of the oils filling electrical equipment.

The SM-TCPs kit has been chosen because it is the ideal instrument to perform the Life Cycle Management (LCM) activities including the inventory, monitoring, management, decontamination and/or disposal of electrical equipment with insulating oils containing PCBs; it complies with the European Directive (96/59/EC) for the use of the best available techniques (BAT) -96/61/EC and best environmental techniques (BEP). Moreover, it complies with the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) – 2001 and technical norms IEC 60422 Ed.4-2012, CENELEC CLC / TR 50503 February 2010, CIGRE 413 April 2010.

Utility – Power transformer of generation (nuclear, thermal, hydro), transmission and distribution with a total of 1.093 transformers.

Namepale data of transformers:

Power max [MVA]: 760
Voltage max [KV]: 400
Oil mass [Kg]: 75.000 each
PCB max [mg/Kg]: 5.000
PCB target [mg/Kg]: < 20 (after 90 days)

Solution: Dehalogenation treatment (CDP Process®) in order to remove the PCBs from oils and transformers. The treatments were performed off-load and on-load (transformer fully load during the treatment).

International Tender of the Electricity Authority of Cyprus for: “Elimination of PCBs from the insulating oil of distribution transformers”. In the 1997 Sea Marconi awarded the tender for decontaminate 520 transformers.

Nameplate data of transformers:

Power max [KVA]: 10-1000
Oil mass contaminated [Kg]: 94.000
PCB max [mg/Kg]: 15.000
PCB target [mg/Kg]: < 10

Solution: Dehalogenation treatment (CDP Process®) in order to remove PCBs from the oils and the transformers.

The CDP Process by Sea Marconi allowed to Cypriot authorities to save about $ 2 million compared to the alternative solution (purchase of new oil, change the oil contaminated and its incineration).

The competence by Sea Marconi on the topic of PCBs at international level received a prestigious confirmation: a few days ago, Vander Tumiatti received an invitation by Donald Cooper, Executive Secretary of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.

In particular, the communication invites Tumiatti as international expert on the matter, to give a dissertation at the Workshop organised by the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention in cooperation with the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) Regional Office for Africa to be held in Nairobi (Kenya) from 15th through 19th June.

The event has the scope to divulge among the Anglophone Countries of Africa the Guidelines for the Best Available Techniques (BAT) and Best Environmental Practices (BAP) relative to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and PCBs.

We remind that:

• The Stockholm Convention (signed in 2001, in effect since 2004 with 150 participating Countries) has the objective to eliminate and reduce the use of some noxious substances for human health and for the environment, designated as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). POPs are chemical compounds with toxic properties that can be propagated in the air, water and ground that, due to their scarce degradability, reside in the environment for a long time. The Agreement indicates 12 main pollutants and three entire classes of compounds: polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo dioxins (PCDDs or more commonly called dioxins) and polychlorinated dibenzo furans (PCDFs).
• The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was implemented in 1972 as an institutional organism to which the general scope of protecting the environment and the sustainable use of natural resources has been assigned, within the frame of the complex organisation system of the United Nations (Wikipedia).

For more info

• • Link to web site of Stockholm Convention
  • Link to news with details of the Workshop
  • Link to official site of UNEP