ABSTRACT

Several studies have examined the distribution of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin (PCDD) and polychlorinated dibenzofuran (PCDF) congeners in combustion effluents and soot. This chapter describes the thermal combustion system and its operation, the chemical analysis procedures, and other experimental. A broad distribution of PCDFs is formed during the thermal degradation of polychlorinated biphenyl and other organochlorine dielectric fluids. To examine, octachlorodibenzofuran (OCDF)-spiked mineral oil was fed into a thermal combustion system operated at 675°C and the products examined. The distribution of PCDF homologs obtained from combustion of OCDF is quite different from that observed in flue gas condensate and in thermal degradation products from combusting dielectric fluids. A similar dechlorination of PCDDs may also be assumed to occur under similar conditions. These dechlorination reactions may account for at least part of the similarity of the PCDF and PCDD profiles observed from various feed materials combusted under different conditions.