Observations of Chlorinated Hydrocarbon Droplet Gasification

Abstract

Abstract Burning of liquid chlorinated waste is often accomplished by spray combustion, leading to diffusion flames surrounding an individual or a cloud of droplets. We have previously reported on the gasification and flame extinction characteristics of individual droplets of a series of mono-chlorinated alkanes and mixtures of nonane and 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane. These studies have been extended to include octane/tetrachloroethene mixtures and several chlorinated benzenes, compounds whose complete combustion was anticipated to be more difficult. Effects of mixture composition and changes to the ambient environment surrounding the droplets, i.e., H2O and O2, concentrations, were observed in order to produce a data set that can be used for future modeling studies. The burning rate data obtained indicate that equal volatility mixtures of octane/tetrachloroethene burn readily. However, as the Cl/H ratio of a mixture increases and approaches unity, burning rates diminish toward the vaporization rate as was previously observed for tetrachloroethane/nonane mixtures. The presence of water vapor from the ambient atmosphere exerts a marked influence on burning rates of high Cl/H mixtures. Furthermore, early flame extinction was observed with 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene, a compound having a Cl/H ratio of unity. These results reinforce the importance of blending fuel/waste mixtures to eliminate the occurrence of high Cl/H regions.