Photodegradation of polychlorinated biphenyls congeners with diethylamine using simulated sunlight

Technical Report · Fri Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:126016

Lin, Yaw-Jian; Gupta, G ^[1]; Baker, J ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD (United States)
2. Univ. of Maryland, Solomons, MD (United States)

Photodegradation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) can be an important natural decomposition mechanism. As most PCB congeners do not strongly absorb wavelength above 300 nm, sensitizers are used in the transfer of light energy to the PCB molecule in order to enhance their degradation. The objectives of this study were to determine the rate-order of reaction and the photodegradation rates of PCB congeners by simulated sunlight in the presence of diethylamine which is used to absorb radiation energy and to enhance the dechlorination of PCB. Five PCB congeners (66, 101, 110, 118, and 138) with diethylamine were exposed to simulated sunlight from 0, 1, 2, 4, 8 to 24 hours. These five congeners constitute 45.45% of all the Aroclor 1254 congeners. The first order reaction rate was confirmed. The photodegradation rates of the PCB congeners varied from 1.76 to 6.42 x 10{sup 8} mole liter{sup -1} hour{sup -1}. The rates were directly proportional to the concentrations of the PCB congeners. The data also indicated that the photodegradation (of congener 101) is independent of the concentration of diethylamine.

• Research Organization: National Association of Environmental Professionals, Washington, DC (United States)
• OSTI ID: 126016
• Report Number(s): CONF-9506115--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
DECOMPOSITION
PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS
POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS