A method for decomposition of hexachlorobenzene by gamma-alumina.

A method of decomposing hexachlorobenzene (HCB) by gamma-alumina was investigated at low temperature of 300 degrees C. It was found that HCB was rather quickly decomposed under such a condition. Decomposition efficiency (DE) increases with increasing the surface area of gamma-alumina. Pretreated gamma-alumina has a better performance for the decomposition reaction. A high decomposition efficiency within the short reactive time of 60 min was achieved to be 94.2%, which was obtained by preheating gamma-alumina with the surface area of 220 m(2)g(-1) at 450 degrees C for 2 h. High surface area and appropriate pretreatment temperature probably provide more reactive sites such as the isolated OH groups and Al(3+) sites surrounded by O(2-) sites. These sites may induce the decomposition of HCB via a main ring-cracking process. The present study, hopefully, holds the promise for the eliminating of HCB contained hazardous materials in industrial application.