S. Cooke et Mm. Labes, DESTRUCTION OF THE ENVIRONMENTALLY HAZARDOUS MONOCHLORINATED PHENOLS VIA PYROLYSIS IN AN INERT ATMOSPHERE, Carbon, 32(6), 1994, pp. 1055-1058
A systematic study is reported of the thermal decomposition of 2-, 3-,
and 4-chlorophenol at 1073 K in a nitrogen atmosphere. Fifty-six to s
eventy-four percent of the materials are converted to graphite, depend
ing on the method of their introduction into a hot quartz tube furnace
. Six and six tenths to ten percent of the materials are converted to
naphthalene, and the other volatile and semi-volatile products obtaine
d are identified via mass spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques
. Analysis of the non-chlorinated aromatic by-products lends credence
to a mechanism of graphitization in which the first step involves carb
on monoxide and hydrogen chloride expulsion to form five and six carbo
n radicals.