Environmental Applications of Ultrasound

208 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2003.As previously reported, molybdenum carbonyl and tungsten carbonyl were decomposed sonochemically in hexadecane to form porous aggregates of 2--3 nm high surface area Mo2C and W2C particles. The activity of these materials was studied for the catalytic hydrodehalogenation of aliphatic and aromatic halocarbons at low temperatures (T = 200--300°C). Both catalysts were selective, active, and stable for all substrates tested. The HDH of substrates bearing aliphatic C-Cl bonds occurs faster than those with aryl C-Cl bonds. Characterization of post catalytic materials with x-ray diffraction and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed no change in the bulk structure of the catalyst and chlorination of the surface metal species, respectively.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD