Exhaustive breakdown of aqueous monochlorophenols by contact glow discharge electrolysis.

The aqueous monochlorophenols were degraded by contact glow discharge electrolysis (CGDE), in which plasma was generated in a localized zone between an electrolytic solution and an anode. With the decay of monochlorophenols, the amount of total organic carbon (TOC) also decreased smoothly, indicating that carbon atoms of benzene nucleus could be eventually converted to inorganic carbons. Meanwhile, it was also clarified that chlorine atoms in the organics were liberated as chloride ions. In addition, it was revealed that the disappearance of monochlorophenols obeyed the first-order rate law, depending on the isomeric structures.