Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a group of synthetic organic chemicals that contains 209 individual congeners with varying harmful effects. PCBs were used in a myriad of materials including transformer oils, coatings such as paints, and many construction materials. Currently PCBs are a threat worldwide to the environment, wild life and human populations creating an urgent need to remove and/or degrade such chemicals in a cost effective way. In previous work a successful degradation method for highly chlorinated biphenyls was developed at UCF. This method makes use of ball- milled, zero-valent magnesium and activated carbon in acidified ethanol or ethanol/ethyl lactate (9:1) to treat hexachlorobiphenyl and lower-chlorinated biphenyls while also incorporating the addition of water to the system. It was demonstrated that the dechlorinatation of hexachlorobiphenyl is feasible, even with the addition of 5 percent water (important feature for full-scale, field use).   In addition, an extensive mole balance of all products formed during the degradation process was performed, verifying that the reaction proceeds as predicted. A degradation pathway and mechanism is proposed for these chemical reactions as well as a comparison between the metal systems used (ZVMg and ZVMg/C) with possible benefits and applications of the co-solvent system for field use.<br/><br/>

Effect of water in the degradation of polychlorinated biphenyls using ZVMg and ZVMg/carbon with acidified ethanol or ethanol/ethyl lactate solvent systems

251st National Meeting (2016)

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