• Removal of PCBs in Aqueous Phase in Ultraviolet (UV), Ultrasonic (US), and UV/US Processes
  • Dukyoung Lee1,2·Younggyu Son1,2*

  • 1Department of Environmental Engineering, Kumoh National Institute of Technology
    2Department of Energy Engineering Convergence, Kumoh National Institute of Technology

  • 자외선 및 초음파 공정에 의한 수용액 상의 PCBs 분해
  • 이덕영1,2·손영규1,2*

  • 1금오공과대학교 환경공학과
    2금오공과대학교 에너지공학융합전공

  • This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


Abstract

The removal of PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyls) in aqueous phase was investigated in the ultraviolet (UV) process, ultrasonics (US) process and ultraviolet/ultrasonic (UV/US) process using PCB No.7 and Aroclor 1260. For PCB No.7 relatively high removal efficiency over 90% was obtained during 20 min in the UV process and UV/US process. On the other hand, lower removal efficiency of 50 – 70% was achieved for it consisted of individual congeners of PCBs containing 3~8 of chlorine atom. It was found that the dechlorination reaction (the photolytic cleavage of C-Cl bond) was considered as a main removal mechanism in the UV process while PCBs were removed by cavitation-induced radical reaction in the US process. No significant dechlorination occurred in the US process. Consequently, it was suggested that the UV process or UV/US process was applicable for the removal of PCBs in aqueous phase in terms of the removal efficiency and operation time. In addition, the application of saturating gas such as Ar and Air could be considered to control redox condition and enhance the severity of acoustic cavitation for the removal of PCBs


Keywords: PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyls), Ultraviolet, Ultrasound, Dechlorination, Cavitation

This Article

  • 2021; 26(4): 1-7

    Published on Aug 31, 2021

  • 10.7857/JSGE.2021.26.4.001
  • Received on Jul 8, 2021
  • Revised on Jul 12, 2021
  • Accepted on Jul 23, 2021

Correspondence to

  • Younggyu Son
  • 1Department of Environmental Engineering, Kumoh National Institute of Technology
    2Department of Energy Engineering Convergence, Kumoh National Institute of Technology

  • E-mail: yson@kumoh.ac.kr