SOLAR THERMAL PHOTOLYTIC DESTRUCTION OF HAZARDOUS ORGANIC WASTES

A laboratory study was performed using concentrated solar radiation to destroy hazardous organic wastes. The intensity of simulated solar radiation and the exposure temperature were varied for a series of test materials using a specially designed system designated the Thermal/Photolytic Reactor System (TPRS). The high-temperature destruction efficiencies (DE) for the test compounds, exposed to 57 suns of radiant flux, were consistently greater than the DE observed under non-irradiative conditions. Calculations, using simple thermal/photolytic models, indicate that DEs may be increased by factors of 10**4-10**6 over purely thermal destruction for solar flux levels of 500-1000 suns. Furthermore, observed red-shifts in the high-temperature absorption spectra of the test compounds suggest that a wide variety of compounds may be amenable to this process.