The effect of white or grey PVC pipe and its joint solvents (primer and cement) on odour problems in drinking water distribution systems

A study of the production of odour-causing compounds was conducted from the leaching of polyvinylchloride (PVC) pipe and its joints, primer and cement, into drinking water distribution systems. Flavour Profile Analysis (FPA), closed-loop stripping analysis – gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (CLSA-GC/MS) and sensory-GC analysis of white or grey PVC alone found no odour-causing compounds produced during the leaching experiments. FPA analysis of the PVC's primer and cement leached alone and/or when applied to grey or white PVC pipes produced a glue/varnish odour. A sweet/phenolic odour replaced the glue/varnish odour after the leached media were diluted with Milli-Q water to threshold odour intensity. Three compounds were responsible for the sweet/phenolic odour and were observed by sensory-GC analysis. The leaching study of the PVC pipe with its joint solvents (primer and cement) concluded that the original solvent compounds, and their reaction products that formed during the bonding process on the PVC pipe, were a primary source of the glue/varnish odour. The original compounds of the PVC primer and cement were not detected by CLSA-GC/MS, due to their high volatility during the CLSA extraction method and/or these compounds appeared in a solvent peak of the GC/MS analysis. However, the original primer and cement chemicals (acetone, tetrahydrofuran, methyl ethyl ketone, and cyclohexanone) had a glue/varnish odour. A total of nine odorous GC peaks were produced as reaction products from leaching of primer in water and white or grey PVC pipe with primer and cement, and white or grey PVC with primer only. None of these compounds were among the chemical ingredients in the original primer or cement. Four GC peaks with a sweet/phenolic odour were present due to the reaction products of the cement leached with white or grey PVC. None of these compounds were positively identified.