Catalytic Degradation of Polychlorinated Biphenyls with Activated Carbon-Supported Iron

Abstract

The processes generated exhaust gas with low-concentration PCBs in large quantities after destroying high-concentration PCBs, which still cannot be disposed of. In present, activated carbon (AC) is used to adsorb residual PCBs after disposal of high level PCBs. In this study, we try to destroy PCBs of low concentration on the AC.AC can be used as a catalyst support in many reactions, including those reducing the concentrations of organic compounds. On the other hand, the transition metal iron can be used to dechlorinate organohalogen compounds. This study presents two methods for producing AC-supported iron. A novel method prepared AC with highly dispersed Fe by the carbonization of ion-exchange resins. AC prepared by this method was called IRFe-AC. Another AC-supported iron, LaFe-AC, was produced by impregnating AC with iron ion solution. Since IRFe-AC contains a large amount of Fe, all the PCB-153 was destroyed under the conditions tested. Moreover, the biphenyl generated in the dechlorination of PCB-153 was destroyed eventually.