Photodechlorination of Aroclor 1254 in a Pilot-Scale Flow through Photoreactor
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 6
Abstract
A novel pilot-scale flow through photoreactor has been designed with the intent to apply it in the field. The photoreactor uses a new plastic coil, instead of the conventional quartz tube. The photoreactor consists of six ultraviolet (UV) lamps with five around the coil and one at the center. Laboratory investigations were conducted using the photoreactor to treat neat Aroclor 1254 in alkaline isopropanol (IPA). The photoreaction is fast and efficient, even though the UV transmittances of the three plastic tubes investigated were lower than that of quartz. The reaction kinetics of the practical mixtures are explored. An analysis of five different constituent congeners of Aroclor 1254 indicated that higher congeners dechlorinate producing some of the lower ones, which are subsequently dechlorinated. The dechlorination of Aroclor 1254 was faster when water was added to the alkaline IPA–Aroclor solution.
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Acknowledgments
The writers gratefully acknowledge the financial assistance of TransCanada and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for providing funds to conduct this research. The writers would like to thank Mr. Ron Thiessen of TransCanada for his suggestions and Mr. Frank Harned of Markel Corporation for supplying the plastic tubings.
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© 2007 ASCE.
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Received: Sep 21, 2005
Accepted: Nov 16, 2006
Published online: Jun 1, 2007
Published in print: Jun 2007
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