The Use of the Oxidation of Barium Peroxide in Aqueous Surfactant Systems in the Electrolytic Destruction of Organic Compounds

Abstract

It was shown that electro‐oxidation of barium peroxide in aqueous sodium chloride containing cationic surfactants formed a reactive intermediate that destroyed a high percentage of chloroform, 1,2,4 trichlorobenzene, hexachlorobenzene, and hexafluorobenzene. The electrolyses were performed both potentiostatically (0.9 V vs. SCE) and galvanostatically (16.6 mA/cm2) under the following conditions: 50 mls of 0.1M sodium chloride, 0.5 g barium peroxide, 2 mls 50% solution of dodecyltrimethylammonium chloride (DTAC), 25°C, graphite anode, and an initial pH of 5. The working hypothesis was that the barium peroxide was oxidized to barium superoxide, and the superoxide acted as a nucleophile displacing the halogen. The resulting product was then chemically and electrolytically oxidized. The products of the oxidation were halide ions and barium carbonate. It was also shown that under similar conditions one could destroy polyvinyl chloride bottoms. However, it was shown that this technique would not destroy ethylenediamine, 1,4 dicyanobutane or aromatic nitrobenzenes. Aliphatic nitro compounds were shown to be destroyed by either electrochemical oxidation alone or oxidation with barium peroxide. Oxidation of these nitro compounds was accelerated little or not at all by combining the two techniques.