Pollutant Sources

Pretreatment personnel should be aware of the potential sources of specific pollutants. The “Pollutant Sources” table is provided for your reference.

Arsenic: Wood Preservatives, by-product of copper & lead smelters, agricultural products, glass, nonferrous alloys.
Beryllium: Fuel containers, aircraft disc brakes, X-ray transmission windows, heat shields, precision instruments, mirrors, nuclear weapons and reactors. Beryllium oxide is used to make specialty electrical and high tech ceramics, electronic insulators, microwave oven components.
Cadmium: Metal plating, nickel-cadmium and other batteries, pigments, plastic stabilizers, pesticides, alloys, chemical reagents.
Chromium: Alloying and plating element on metal & plastic substrates, protective coatings for automotive & equipment accessories, electroplating cleaning agents, industrial water treatment including treatment of cooling tower water, drilling muds, refractories, mordants in textile industry, fungicides, wood preservatives, dyes & pigments, sensitizer in photographic industry, medical astringents and antiseptics, leather treatment/ tanning, nuclear and high temperature research.
Copper: Plumbing/piping, paints and pigments, corrosion inhibitor, electroplating processes, insecticide, fungicide, herbicide, pigment for ceramics, mildew preventive, paper products, glass, controlling algae & aquatic plant growth, water resistant adhesives for wood, synthetic rubber, varnishes, battery electrodes, cement, stabilizer for polyurethanes and nylons, fuel additive, flameproofing, printing and photocopying, dyeing and printing textiles, manufacture of indelible, invisible, and laundry marking inks; refining of copper, silver and gold; to remove lead compounds from gasoline and oils/petroleum purifying agent, photography. anti-fouling agent, used in silver, brass, and copper-tin alloy plating.
Lead: Plumbing, batteries, ammunition, electrical equipment (circuit boards for computers & other electronic circuitry), television glass, metal products-sheat lead-solder-pipes, ceramic glazes, roofing materials, medical equipment, scientific and military equipment (tracking systems). (Synonyms: Plumbum, pigment metal).
Mercury: Thermometers, Hg switches, barometers, batteries containing Hg are used in devices ranging from guided missiles to hearing aids, cameras, calculators, smoke detectors; electric or mercury lamps for outdoor lighting (floodlights/street lights), used in diuretics, antiseptics, and skin preparations. Also used in dental amalgams, pigments/paints (approximately one third of all interior latex paint contained varying levels of Hg), lubrication oils. Low Level Hg level interference from tobacco products or exhaust from automobiles. (Synonyms: quicksilver, liquid silver, hydrargyrum, kwik).
Molybdenum: Molydates used in corrosion inhibitor; recirculating cooling water and boiler water corrosion control additives or resin treatment cartridges (0.1 to 15 mg/L), lubricating oils, alloy element in steels, cast iron and non-ferrous metals, nuclear medicine; to form technitium used in imaging, smoke suppressant as ingredient in plastics, foods (beans, peas and other legumes due to Mo being essential media nutrient for nitrogen fixation, cereal grains, organ meats, leafy vegetables).
Nickel: Steels and alloys, permanent magnet materials, nickel-cadmium batteries, electroplating, ceramics, soil, vegetation, fuel oil combustion, stormwater runoff, colored glass, textiles.
Selenium: Pigments in plastics, paints, enamels, inks, & rubber. Anti-dandruff shampoos, recitifiers for home entertainment equipment, red or black glass, veterinary medicine (fungicide and insecticide), foods (grains, cereals, meats, seafood).
Zinc: Oils, lubricants and greases, paints and inks, cosmetics and medicines, rubber (anti-stick agent), powders, piping, floor cleaners and polishers, batteries and electrical equipment, cooling and boiler water additive to control biofilm, soil/runoff, soure water or city water—use of zinc polyphosphate is groundwater or surface water source high in zinc, soaps, TV screens, flourescent lights, luminous dials.
Phenols: Phenolic resins used in plywood adhesive, construction, automotive and appliance industry. Intermediate in production of caprolactum-used to make nylon and other synthetic fibers. Disinfectant, slimicide, anesthetic in medicinal preparations including ointments, ear and nose drops, cold sore lotions, throat logenzes, antiseptic lotions. Bisphenol A is used to make epoxy and other resins. Pentachlorphenol used as industrial wood preservative for utility poles, fence posts, and used at sawmills. Used in some air masking agents, odor control products and deodorizers.
Cyanide: Electroplating, metallurgy, production of organic chemicals, anti-caking agents in road salts, plastic manufacturing, chelating agents, insecticides, dyes and pigment manufacturing, extraction of gold & silver from ores, photographic development.
Ammonia: Household cleaner, bleaching agent, refrigerant, fertilizer production, plastics, explosives, pharmaceuticals, metal treatment operations (i.e. sodium hydride descaling, nitriding), defoliant agent, rubber industry for stabilization of raw latex to prevent coagulation.
Phthalates: Platicizers in PVC resins for fabricating flexible vinyl products (PVC resins used in shower curtains, toys, components of paper and paperboard, adhesives, food containers), cosmetic products, mosquito repellents, detergents, aftershave lotions, skin care preparations, fixative in perfumes, nail polish and nail polish remover, tape applications, food applications.
Naphthalene: Natural component of petroleum and coal, moth repellents/mothballs or crystals, toilet & diaper pail deodorant blocks, leather tanning agents, intermediate in production of phthalic anhybride used in production of resins, plasticizers, dyes, and pharmaceuticals.
Benzene: Synthetic rubbers and fibers, liquid detergents, some plastics, adhesives, radios, textiles, automobiles, tires, appliances, motor vehicle gasoline component, carpet glue, furniture wax.
Carbon Tetrachloride: Use in manufacturing of refrigerants and propellants for aerosol cans, petroleum refining, pharmaceutical manufacturing, general solvent use, until mid 1960s widely used as a cleaning fluid-degreasing agent, spot remover and in fire extinguishers. (Synonyms: carbona, tetrachloromethane)
Chloroform: Can form in water w/ use of chlorine compounds (including HTH, sodium hypochlorite), plastics, solvent for lacquers, floor polishes, artificial silk manufacture, resins, fats, greases, gums, waxes, adhesives, oils, rubber. Industrial solvent in extraction and purification of some antibiotics, vitamins, flavors. (Synonyms: methane trichloride, trichloromethane).
Methyl Ketone: Solvent for coatings, adhesives, magnetic tapes, printing inks, and pesticides. As an extraction solvent for hardwood pulping and vegetable oil, colorless synthetic resins, as a fragrance and flavoring agent in candy and perfumes, lacquering and varnishing, artificial leather, lubricating oils, cleaning fluids, fabric coating, cements, smokeless powder. (Synonyms: MEK, 2-butanone, methyl acetone).
Methylene: Industrial solvent, cleaning and thinning uses, aerosol products such as coatings, paint removers, hair sprays, room deodorants, herbicides, insecticides. Metal degreasing, foam blowing of polyurethanes, stripping and degreasing in the electronics industry, polycarbonate resin production. (Synonyms: dichloromethane, methylene dichloride - trade names: Aerothene, MM, Freon 30, Narkotil, R30, Solaestin, & Solmethine).
Tetrachloroethylene: Dry cleaning, metal degreasing. In smaller quantities used in rubber coatings, solvent soaps, printing inks, adhesives and glues, sealants, lubricants, pesticides. (Synonyms: Perchloroethylene, PCE, Perc, ethylene tetrachloride, perchlor)
Toluene: Component of gasoline, 1% used in solvents in paints, inks, adhesives, and cleaning agents. Production of pharmaceuticals, dyes, cosmetic nail products. Used in chemical synthesis of benzene, urethane foams. (Synonyms: phenyl methane, methyl benzol, toluol, methyl benzene).
1,1,1-Trichloroethane: Solvent for adhesives and in metal degreasing, pesticides, textile processing, cutting fluids, aerosols, lubricants, cutting oil formulations, drain cleaners, shoe polishes, spot cleaners, printing inks. Industry cleaning (vapor degreasing of precision instruments, molds, electrical equipment, circuit boards), circuit board fabrication and in semiconductor industry for secondary cleaning, cleanin of printing presses, food packaging machinery. (Synonyms: methyl chloroform, chloroethane, methyltrichloromethane) - No longer to be made in US after 1996.
Trichloroethylene: Solvent to remove grease from metal parts, particularly in the automotive and metals industries, found in household products - typewriter correction fluid, paint removers, adhesives, spot removers, rug cleaning fluids. (Synonyms: ethylene trichloride, triclene, acetylene trichloride, NCI-CO4546, 1,1,2-trichloroethylene).
Vinyl: Parent component of PVC. Containers, pipes, hose, flooring, wrapping film, battery cell separators, refrigerant gas, electrical insulation. (Synonyms: VC, chloroethene, ethylene monochloride, monochloroethylene).
Xylenes: Manufacture gasoline, reforming petroleum fractions solvent, production of polyester fibers, dyes. Three (3) isomers: ortho (feed stock for phthalic anhydride manufacture - pigment), meta (manufacture of isophthalic acid), and para (household fabrics, clothing, carpets). (Synonyms: o, m, or p-xylol, dimethylbenzene)