Dechlorination of chlorobenzene in air with electron beam

To get qualitative and quantitative data for the decomposition of chlorinated hydrocarbons, gaseous chlorobenzene of 10-40 ppm concentrations was irradiated under air condition with electron beam in the dose range of 0-10 kGy. The irradiation decomposed chlorobenzene, and formed gaseous products and aerosols. An irradiation dose of 10 kGy decomposed 80% of chlorobenzene at 10 ppm. Good mass balances on chorine (mgCl) and carbon (mgC) were obtained at doses of 4, 8 and 4 kGy with the addition of NH3. About 65% of chlorine in reacted chlorobenzene was dechlorinated by the irradiation at 4 and 8 kGy. The addition of NH3 enhanced the dechlorination to about 80%. At least about 40% of the gaseous products was found to be aliphatic oxygenates like formate, acetate and cc-ketoglutarate at doses of 4 and 8 kGy on the basis of carbon unit (mgC). These aliphatic oxygenates accounted for only 3% in the case of the aerosols. The FTIR analyses revealed that the aerosols consisted of low-vapor-pressured products that had nitrate groups and/or retained the aromatic ring. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.