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Assessing the viability of electro-absorption and photoelectro-absorption for the treatment of gaseous perchloroethylene

  • Advanced Oxidation/Reduction Technologies: An Perspective from Iberoamerican Countries
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Abstract

This work focuses on the development of electro-absorption and photoelectro-absorption technologies to treat gases produced by a synthetic waste containing the highly volatile perchloroethylene (PCE). To do this, a packed absorption column coupled with a UV lamp and an undivided electrooxidation cell was used. Firstly, it was confirmed that the absorption in a packed column is a viable method to achieve retention of PCE into an absorbent-electrolyte liquid. It was observed that PCE does not only absorb but it was also transformed into phosgene and other by-products. Later, it was confirmed that the electro-absorption process influenced the PCE degradation, favoring the transformation of phosgene into final products. Opposite to what is expected, carbon dioxide is not the main product obtained, but carbon tetrachloride and trichloroacetic acid. Both species are also hazardous but their higher solubility in water opens possibilities for a successful and more environmental-friendly removal. The coupling with UV-irradiation has a negative impact on the degradation of phosgene. Finally, a reaction mechanism was proposed for the degradation of PCE based on the experimental observations. Results were not as expected during the planning of the experimental work but it is important to take in mind that PCE decomposition occurs in wet conditions, regardless of the applied technology, and this work is a first approach to try to solve the treatment problems associated to PCE gaseous waste flows in a realistic way.

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Funding

Financial support from the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación through project PID2019-107271RB-I00 (AEI/FEDER, UE) and Spanish Government (Grant N° FPU16/0067) are gratefully acknowledged. Martin Muñoz-Morales acknowledges the FPU grant no.016/0067. Fernanda L. Souza is gratefully acknowledged to Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de nível Superior (CAPES) process 88881.171154/2018-01 for the scholarship awarded. Castañeda-Juárez acknowledges the scholarship granted by CONACyT.

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Author notes

  1. Martín Muñoz-Morales and Montse Castañeda-Juárez contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Sciences & Technologies, Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, Campus Universitario s/n 13071, Ciudad Real, Spain

    Martín Muñoz-Morales, Cristina Saez, Pablo Cañizares & Manuel Andrés Rodrigo

  2. Instituto Interamericano de Tecnología y Ciencias del Agua, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Km.14.5, carretera Toluca-Atlacomulco, C.P. 50200 San Cayetano, Toluca, Estado de México, Mexico

    Montse Castañeda-Juárez, Verónica Martínez-Miranda & Ivonne Linares-Hernández

  3. Institute of Chemistry of São Carlos, University of São Paulo, P.O. Box 780, São Carlos, SP, 13560-970, Brazil

    Fernanda Lourdes Souza

Authors
  1. Martín Muñoz-Morales
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  2. Montse Castañeda-Juárez
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  3. Fernanda Lourdes Souza
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  4. Cristina Saez
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  5. Pablo Cañizares
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  6. Verónica Martínez-Miranda
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  7. Ivonne Linares-Hernández
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  8. Manuel Andrés Rodrigo
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Fernanda Lourdes Souza or Manuel Andrés Rodrigo.

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Responsible Editor: Sami Rtimi

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Highlights

• Absorption into electrolytes can help to retain PCE from gas effluents.

• Phosgene is produced by wet decomposition of PCE.

• Electro-absorption favors transformation of phosgene into CCl4 and TCA.

• Almost no mineralization of gaseous streams was attained.

• UV-irradiation does not have a significant influence.

• Reaction pathways with main liquid and gaseous by-products were proposed.

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Muñoz-Morales, M., Castañeda-Juárez, M., Souza, F.L. et al. Assessing the viability of electro-absorption and photoelectro-absorption for the treatment of gaseous perchloroethylene. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 23657–23666 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10811-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10811-2

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