FORMATION OF BY-PRODUCTS FROM 1,1,1-C2H3CL3 IN THE POST-FLAME ZONE OF A TURBULENT COMBUSTOR

Incinerator licensing requires the demonstration of destruction efficiency for waste compounds, but does not require that byproducts be measured. In a bench-scale experiment with residence times and equivalence ratios similar to incinerator conditions, the decomposition products of 1,1,1-C2H3Cl3 were measured using FTIR spectroscopy. 1,1,1-C2H3Cl3 was vaporized and diluted with nitrogen, then injected into the post-flame region of a tubular turbulent combustor. The temperature range (T(max) between 790 and 1232 K) covered the transition from poor to thorough destruction of the parent compound. The major byproducts were 1,1-C2H2Cl2, CO, C2H2, and CCl2O. Of these, 1,1-C2H2Cl2 and CCl2O (phosgene) are far more toxic than the parent compound. Since phosgene peaks at a temperature at which 1,1,1-C2H3Cl3 is not detected, it appears that thorough destruction of the parent compound is not a guarantee against hazardous byproducts.