Degradation of Aqueous Phase Trichloroethylene Using Pulsed Corona Discharge

Pulsed corona discharge has been found to be an effective method for the removal of trichloroethylene (TCE) from the aqueous phase. Almost complete degradation over one hour was observed irrespective of the electrolyte used in the solution. The degradation rates observed in these experiments are higher than those for other organic compounds such as phenol in pulsed corona reactors, thereby suggesting that hydroxyl radical attack isn’t the only mechanism for organic compound degradation. This conclusion is supported by other experiments that utilized hydroxyl radical scavengers. The degradation of TCE consistently produced a byproduct that was observed in samples from both the liquid phase and the gas phase of the reactor but the identity of this by-product couldn’t be established conclusively. Ion chromatography of samples from the liquid phase at the end of the experiments showed that 69% of the total chlorine present in initial TCE was released as chloride ion upon the complete degradation of TCE.