ULTRAVIOLET PHOTOOXIDATION FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF VOCS IN AIR

Air stripping is an effective and economical process for removing vola tile organic chemicals (VOCs) from contaminated water sources. However the air stripping process simply transfers the contaminants from the water to the air phase where they may continue to pose an environmenta l problem. In this study, the use of ultraviolet light (u.v.) photooxi dation for treating the off gas from air stripping is examined. Subseq uent papers will address linking u.v. photooxidation with air strippin g in a closed loop stripping process. Fundamental studies are conducte d to characterize the kinetics of the gas phase photooxidation of five volatile chlorinated alkanes and alkenes under different operating co nditions.