Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Need help destroying nasty organics

DeAdFX - 23-7-2007 at 14:56

I was recently using a motar and pestle to grind up some pentachlorophenol(PCP) for some pyrotechnic experiments. Now that I am finished grinding up PCP I wish to use it for more "benign" grinding. Technical grade PCP also contains chlorinated Dioxins.

I was wondering if basified hydrogen peroxide (oxy-clean) would be an acceptable way to destroy this compound. To be more specific I wish to only have Chloride ions/Carbonate ions/water/benign organic compounds left over. I hear that a mixture of Iron +2 or +3 ions are used in conjunction with Hydrogen peroxide to destroy organics but I currently lack any soluble iron compounds. I do have steel wool though...

[Edited on 23-7-2007 by DeAdFX]

BromicAcid - 23-7-2007 at 15:02

Don't let the EPA find that stuff. There are no incinerators in the US that will take pentachlorophenol waste, as it is a dioxin precursor and carries the F027 code. You have to ship the stuff to Canada and the minimum disposal cost might be $400 or more depending on where you take it. But enough of this kind of warning crap, H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> with iron, or Fentons Reagent as I prefer is good for chewing up organics. Steel wool with a little bit of NaCl will work to generate your iron compounds in situ, add a little acid too, to speed things along. However pentachlorophenol is surprisingly resilient to many forms of attack. There are methods to reduce chloro groups off benzene using magnesium metal however the exact details are lost to me. Hopefully someone here will have some better ideas for you.

Ozone - 23-7-2007 at 16:17

I was going to suggest the ol' Fenton myself. I do know that pentachlorophenol is quite soluble in acidified ether, for what that's worth. Another route may be to expose it to strong sun for several days (most chlorinated organics will bite it this way, albeit rather slowly).

FeCl3 is an ideal (and acidic) water soluble iron salt which (recently, I have found) contains around 0.78% Fe2+ (on iron) when dissolved under N2 (from hydrate, lumps). This is more than enough to get your Fenton cycle started. It can be had at radio shack as PC board etchant.

Good old bleach might work too.

Cheers,

O3

[Edited on 23-7-2007 by Ozone]

halogen - 23-7-2007 at 16:34

Or a UV lamp if sun is not quite available.

"I was recently using a motar and pestle to grind up some pentachlorophenol(PCP) for some pyrotechnic experiments. "
"There are no incinerators in the US that will take pentachlorophenol waste, as it is a dioxin precursor and carries the F027 code. You have to ship the stuff to Canada and the minimum disposal cost might be $400 or more depending on where you take it."

I suppose you could incinerate it yourself given your interests? I don't suppose KOH and strong heat in low water env. would do the trick would it?

The_Davster - 23-7-2007 at 16:37

Conc. Sulfuric then slow addition of KMnO4, or perhaps pirhanna solution.

Or do all of what has been mentioned, one after the other. Can never be too careful.

BromicAcid - 23-7-2007 at 16:37

Yeah, dioxin precursors have the stigma of necessitating 6-9's disposal. I.e., after disposal 99.9999% of the material must be destroyed.

DeAdFX - 23-7-2007 at 16:48

Hmm thanks guys... I think I might have some HCL kicking around somewhere. I will probably dump a little HCL + water + steel wool to make some FeCl2-3.

I might try permanganate or dichromate oxidization. I think I have more dichromate to spare anywho..

jokull - 24-7-2007 at 07:34

Quote:
Originally posted by DeAdFX
Hmm thanks guys... I think I might have some HCL kicking around somewhere. I will probably dump a little HCL + water + steel wool to make some FeCl2-3.

I might try permanganate or dichromate oxidization. I think I have more dichromate to spare anywho..



Hi, if you are going to try the Fenton's reagent option it would be useful to add some titanium dioxide and irradiate this mixture under a black light lamp (the UV lamp someone suggested).

With this method I have destroyed PCP in soil at concentrations up to 105ppm within 8 hours. Hope you may try it ;)