Gas-solid alkali destruction of volatile chlorocarbons

Many chlorocarbons are environmental dangers and health hazards. The simplest perchlorinated hydrocarbon, carbon tetrachloride, is near the top of the list of hazardous compounds. Carbon tetrachloride was used as a cleaning fluid, solvent, and fire-extinguishing agent. The nuclear and defense complexes also employed great quantities of carbon tetrachloride and other chlorocarbons as cleaning and degreasing agents. Many sites nationwide have underground chlorocarbon contamination plumes. Bulk chlorocarbon inventories at many locations await treatment and disposal. Often the problem is compounded by the chlorocarbon being radioactively contaminated. Waste inventory and groundwater contamination problems exist for many other chlorocarbons, especially methylene chloride, chloroform, and tri- and tetrachloroethylene. In this work solid soda lime (a fused mixture of approximately 95% CaO and 5% NaOH in a coarse, granulated form) at 350 C to 400 C acts as the hydrolyzing degradation, and off-gas scrubbing medium. Within soda lime CO{sub 2} and HCl from hydrolysis and degradation convert immediately to calcium and sodium chlorides and carbonates, with water vapor as a volatile byproduct