Abstract
The chemical waste treatment, APEG (alkali/polyethylene glycol) process has been shown to be effective for the dechlorination of PCBs in transformer oil. Considerable amount of PCBs, however, still remains in the waste exceeding the 25-50 ppm limit set by regulatory agency. A new thermal regeneration technology has been developed in our laboratory for disposal of hazardous organic wastes. Due to the limited oxidation of carbon surface through the reverse movement of flame front to oxidant flow, this technology was termed counterflow oxidative system (COS). Specially, the oxidant flow in the COS process is a principal parameter which determines the optimum conditions regarding acceptable removal and destruction efficiency of adsorbed organic wastes at minimal carbon loss. The COS process, under optimum conditions, was found to be very effective and the removal and destruction efficiency of 99.99% or better was obtained for residual PCBs in the waste while bulk (≥90%) of carbon was recovered. Any toxic formation of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzo furans (PCDFs) were not detected in the regenerated carbon and impinger traps. The results of surface area measurement showed that the adsorptive property of regenerated carbon is mostly reclaimed during the COS process.