Obligations and regulatory aspects

regulations
Beyond IEC 60422 (Ed. 4, 2013) on the need to perform PCB tests to exclude any type of contamination during the life cycle of the equipment, there are also:
  • IEC 61619
    Insulating liquids - Contamination by PCBs. Methods of determination by capillary column gas chromatography

  • CENELEC CLC/TR 50503 (02/2010)
    Guidelines for inventory control, management, decontamination and/or disposal of electrical equipment and insulating liquids containing PCBs

  • CIGRE Brochure No. 413 (April 2010)
    Insulating Oil Regeneration and Dehalogenation

and European Directive 96/59 - Legislative Decree 209/99" disposal of PCBs and PCTs" which defines, among others:

  1. what is meant by " PCB", i.e. PCT + PCBT
  2. what is meant by " equipment containing PCB", namely any equipment that could potentially contain PCBs unless the owner is able to prove otherwise through analysis.

There are then the obligations of inventory, labelling and

DECONTAMINATION/DISPOSAL OBLIGATIONS

equipment volume PCB concentration (mg/kg) expiry
< 5 dm3 (waste) > 50 31 December 2005
> 5 dm3 between 50 and 500 end of service life
> 5 dm3 > 500 31 December 2010

Thus, from a regulatory standpoint, today:

  • there should no longer be transformers contaminated above 500 mg/kg
  • all transformers containing PCBs between 50 and 500 mg/kg that can still be used provided they are in g ood functional state should be listed in the national inventory.


CAUTION: “In good functional state".
Legislative Decree 209/99, Art. 5, paragraph 4
“ Transformers (contaminated between 50 and 500 mg/kg) may be used pending decontamination or disposed only if in good functional state, with no leaking of fluids and the PCBs they contain comply with the standards or technical specifications related to dielectric quality ”
Therefore the utmost attention must be paid above all to:

  • the frequency of diagnostic checks of the dielectric fluid;
  • the parameters being checked;
  • the evolution of these parameters over time;
  • the inspection conditions of the transformer;
  • the value of PCBs measured (date, methodologies used and the accuracy of this value)

What are the different techniques of elimination/decontamination of PCBs in the oils in transformers and other electrical equipment?

What is the best available technique for the decontamination of the oils in transformers in operation and at end of life?

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