ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Studies on Degradation of Polychlorinated
Biphenyls by Means of Fenton’s Reagent
D. Prządo1, P. Kafarski1, M. Steininger2
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1Faculty of Chemistry, Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Wrocław University of Technology,
Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-306 Wrocław, Poland
2Faculty of Chemistry, Department of Fuel Chemistry and Technology, Wrocław University of Technology,
ul. Gdańska 7/9, 50-344 Wrocław, Poland
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2007;16(6):881-887
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Fenton’s reagent was applied for degradation of selected congeners of PCBs (PCB28, PCB52, PCB101,
PCB138) present in aqueous solution at ppb concentrations. The effectiveness of degradation by this chemical
process was determined and the toxicity of degradation products was evaluated. The experiments lasted
96 hours under stable pH during the whole process. In 24 h intervals the samples were extracted and
analyzed by GC, GC/MS and IC. At the same time the Microtox® test was applied to assess the toxicity
of the resulting solution. It has been observed that the concentration of two congeners, namely PCB28
and PCB52, decreased rapidly within the first 24 h of the experiment, whereas the two remaining ones
(PCB101, PCB138) were degraded poorly. After 96 hours of the process, apart from other oxygenated
products, acetate and fumarate also were determined. Concentration of Cl- ions was only slightly increased,
indicating that the substrates were not mineralized.