Monitoring of radical thermocatalyzed breakdown of polychlorinated compounds

Disposal of polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) is a current problem still far from a really satisfactory solution. Because of the wide use and the chemical inactivity, the PCB amount to be treated is considerably large. In this paper, the setting-up of a methodical catalytic pyrolysis of polychlorinated compounds is proposed, The monitoring of the final decomposition products by analytical techniques, such as GC and coupled TG-FTIR, allowed to optimize the reaction temperature: the encouraging results, the lower operative temperatures with respect to previous systems and the favourable prospects regarding the environmental impact make this methodology open to practical applications at a relative low cost.