Hazardous or toxic waste destruction or containment – Containment – Solidification – vitrification – or cementation
Patent
1995-06-12
1997-09-02
Jones, Deborah
Hazardous or toxic waste destruction or containment
Containment
Solidification, vitrification, or cementation
2082621, 2082625, 25218212, 25218235, A62D 300
Patent
active
056634790
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a process for the decomposition of hazardous halogen-containing organic compounds, such as polychlorinated biphenyls.
Numerous halogenated organic compounds, for example, Polychlorinated Dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated Dibenzofurans (PCDFs), Polychlorinated Byphenyls (PCBs), Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), 2, 4, 5 trichlorophenol and polyhalogenated alkylbenzene etc., pose definite hazards to the environment and public health. A number of them are resistant to the environmental degradation and remain in hazardous forms for many years.
During the past decade, several methods of disposing of halogenated organic compounds have been proposed, such as incineration, a "secure" landfill and hydrothermal decomposition. However, it has been found that the disposal of such toxic halogenated contaminants with these methods is not satisfactory, especially on a large scale.
Various chemical processes for decomposing halogenated organic compounds have also been developed. Pytlewski and Smith in their U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,368 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,326,090, respectively demonstrated that polyhalogenated organic compounds were found to be decomposed by the reaction with a preformed organo-sodium reagent, such as sodium naphthalenide, NaPEG. In these cases, the use of metallic sodium metal requires special handling procedures and specialized equipment, and trace amount of water must be eliminated so as to avoid dangerous side reactions.
It has been further proposed by Brunelle of General Electric in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,351,718 and 4,353,793 that removal of the polychlorinated aromatic hydrocarbon dissolved in an organic solvent, such as transformer oil, can be accomplished by treating the contaminated solution with a mixture of polyethyleneglycol or monocapped polyalkyleneglycol alkyl ether and an alkali metal hydroxide. It has been found that such reactions require extended periods of time to reduce the concentration of halogenated contaminants such as PCBs, to a generally acceptable level.
Also, it has been proposed by Peterson of Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation in U.S. Pat. No. 4,532,028 to reduce the level of halogenated aromatics in a hydrocarbon stream by the treatment with an alkaline reactant in a sulfoxide solvent. This process involves the purification step to remove the sulfoxides solvent after decontamination where the resulting decontaminated fluid will be reused.
In our U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,742 and Eur. Pat. No. 0,118,858, Tundo disclosed a method for the decomposition of halogenated organic compounds by a reagent which consists of (a) polyethyleneglycol, Nixolens.RTM., an alcohol or polyhydroxy compounds, (b) a base, such as alkali or alkaline earth carbonate and bicarbonate, and (c) an oxidizing agent, such as Na.sub.2 O.sub.2 and BaO.sub.2, or a source of radicals in the absence of oxygen. This method is applicable to the decontamination of mineral oil, soil and various porous surfaces. But the use of sodium peroxide, or other oxidizing agents and the source of free radicals pose potential explosion and fire hazards involved in their operation. Also, this can be prohibitively expensive because of the cost of peroxide.
Further, in our U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,042 and Eur Pat. No. 0,135,043 Tumiatti et al described a continuous decontamination process with a dehalogenating bed, which is composed of a polyethylene glycol or a copolymer of various alkene oxides in a certain proportion and an alkali or alkaline earth metal alcoholate, which are adsorbed on certain solid carriers. However, this process was found to require a large amount of reagents and extended periods of time to reduce the concentration of halogenated contaminants such as PCBs, to a generally acceptable level.
The continued efforts to improve our previous patented methods for decontamination of halogenated organic compounds by enhancing its efficiency, reducing decontamination time, operative cost and potential hazards involved in the operation, and improving the recovery of substantial fractions of funct
REFERENCES:
patent: 4839042 (1989-06-01), Tumiatti et al.
patent: 5152844 (1992-10-01), Wilwerding et al.
Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 4th ed., 1969, pp. 26 and 534.
Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 44th ed., 1962, pp. 444-449, 630, 1018.
Harding Amy M.
Jones Deborah
Schneider Walter H.
Sea Marconi Technologies di Wander Tumiatti S.A.S.
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