Identification of major perchloroaromatic compounds in waste products from the production of carbon tetrachloride and tetrachloroethylene

Abstract

High-boiling residues from the chlorinolysis of propylene (“hex-waste”) can be separated into two categories: (i) crude hexachlorobenzene and (ii) the mother liquor, which is subsequently processed and recycled. The composition of the mother liquor has been investigated. It was found to contain a large number of perchlorinated, higher aromatic compounds, e.g., octachlorostyrene, decachlorobiphenyl, octachloronaphthalene, octachloroindene, octachloroacenaphthylene, decachlorofluoranthene and octachlorodibenzofuran. Results also confirmed that the only unambiguous method for the identification of these compounds was their separation by reversed-phase HPLC and comparison with authentic standards, most of which had to be synthesised for this work.