First off I would like to thank everyone for their time and thoughts
to our mystery, which as of now remains a mysery.

We ran GC and it is not in our library.  I'm hoping someone might be
able to help with some new information.

ion 91 is the strongest peak
ion 61 is apx 75% of ion 91
ion 45 is apx 50% of ion 61.

the peaks were very light so we are extending run time to see if we
can generate more peaks.

we ran ph on all samples.  5 of the 7 are ph 12, 2 of the samples are
ph 7.  The two that are ph 7 are obviously the most concentrated based
on the odor that rushes at you when you open the jar.

Thanks for your continued help,

Andrew Gross

On Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 11:41 AM, Clark, Richard C <rcclark**At_Symbol_Here**bemis.com> wrote:

Just got back to work this morning after a week's vacation and read the

postings related to this problem.

The chlordane speculation merits comment.  I was the works chemist for

Velsicol at Marshall, IL just before the plant closed in the late 70's.

That was the only site in the world that manufactured chlordane; Velsicol

also manufactured hexachlor at another site (Tennessee, I think).  Chlordane

is a polychlorinated dicyclopentadiene and had lots of by-products;

hexachlor was hexachlorocyclopentadiene made by a different process and was

much purer.  Chlordane was so heavy that it could only be shipped in 30-gal.

drums.  It was diluted by reformulators with kerosene (5-10% chlordane, I

think).  The kerosene-chlordane mixture could be dispersed in water with the

aid of detergent to make an emulsion for field spraying and termite

treatment.  With the closure of the Marshall, IL plant, acquisition of

Velsicol by Great Lakes Chemical (now part of Chemtura), and environmental

issues, chlordane manufacture was never re-started.  This might explain the

age of the drums.

Chlordane is an impure mixture containing numerous chlorination byproducts

of cyclopentadiene and dicyclopentadiene.  The EPA published a GC-MS study

of it ca. 1976 in Analytical Chemistry which revealed dozens of compounds..

Velsicol had no idea of that complexity; we were using packed column GC

technology for process control.  I'm not sure that GC-MS will be useful for

identification given the mixture of kerosene and chlordane. That would be an

identification nightmare.

Chlordane yellows with age.  The green flame is from the Bielstein test for

chlorine.  The emulsion of the kerosene mixture is cloudy-white.  While the

initial boiling point may be 27=B0C, the boiling point may rise quickly above

100=B0C.  An ASTM distillation will give some idea of that.  Infrared

spectroscopy of the distillation fractions (10% volume cuts) should show a

mixture of saturated hydrocarbons and chlorination of saturated and

unsaturated hydrocarbons.  I'll be surprised if you can take the

distillation to a dry point before the flask contents start to smoke;

chlordane will likely break down before it distills.  If the low boiling

components are chlorinated by-products, they won't flash.

Hope this helps (and my memory isn't too inaccurate).

Rick Clark

Sr. Research Chemist

Curwood, Inc.

________________________________

From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of

List Moderator

Sent: Monday, December 28, 2009 11:38 AM

To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU

Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Unknown Hazardous Chemical

From: Andrew Gross <gross.drew**At_Symbol_Here**gmail.com>

Date: December 28, 2009 12:02:48 PM EST

Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Unknown Hazardous Chemical

Hi Everyone,

My lab recieved a sample from a power plant that they do not know what

it is and wish to have it identified.  I am trying to ID it because

until I have a better idea it is on hold for all testing (read on to

find out why).  I'm hoping for some thoughts.

Sample is liquid in appearance, but lighter then di-chloromethane.  I

think it is actually an oil of some kind.  It is transparant yellow

and some say it smells like kerosene.

It forms a white emulsion when mixed with water.

There is no flash point.  On closed cup method it flames out below

25C.  It does not ignite when exposed to direct flame.  However it

boils around 27C.

Exposed flame turns green (like copper flame), vapors also turn flame green.

When dried, it turns to a waxy white translucent crystal.  My closed

cup flame is still green meaning it is contaminated by the vapors.

Vapors in small quanteties (under hood) cause nausea, light headedness

and confusion.

pH is 6ish (litmus paper) although client claims it to be caustic.

All PCB analysis came up negative.

The exposure effects are why all tests are on hold till we have a

better idea as to what were dealing with as well as the remaining

tests for my department involve reacting with acid and pumping

nitrogen through it.

Thoughts, ideas, experiences?  Client has 5 unidentified drums of this

stuff and has no idea what it is.  We need to identify but I am not

going to put anyone in danger until I know more about it.

Andrew Gross

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