(615c) Reaction Rate Analysis of De-Chlorination of Low-Concentration PCBs

Polychlorinated biphenyls, which are abbreviated as PCBs, had been used in many apparatuses such as transformers and capacitors because of their thermal stability, chemical stability and good insulating performance. As it was found that PCBs have severe toxicity, the production and import of them in Japan are nowadays prohibited except the purpose of academic researches, and the disposal and the handling of them are also restricted strictly. Owing to the difficulty in the decomposition of them, most of them have been stored.

We have researched a technology of simple treatments of PCBs in TEPCO. This technology is conducting de-chlorination of PCBs with the combination of catalyst and microwaves under mild conditions.

An analysis had been developed to determine the reaction rate of detoxification of PCBs using UV/catalyst in the past (Toshiba 2003, 2005). Based on this analysis we developed an improved analysis of reaction rate of detoxification of high concentration of PCBs, which is 100% PCBs. Using this analysis, we could obtain the reaction rate equation, which also contain the catalyst weight and total volume of solution, for decomposition of high concentration PCBs. (Society of Chemical Engineer, Japan 2008.9 submitted)

In this paper we report the result of the analyzing of reaction rate of detoxification of low concentration of PCBs, which is a slight amount of PCBs in insulating oil, using the analysis.