1. Catalytic Destruction of Chlorinated Solvents in Soil Vapor
Student: Jagoda Vojvodic
Mentor: Eric Betterton
University of Arizona Space Grant

2. Superfund
Federal government’s program to clean up hazardous waste sites from a priority list of 1246
Common contaminants:
Trichloroethylene (TCE)
Tetrachloroethylene (PCE)

3. Priority List of Hazardous Substances1
Arsenic 2
Lead 3
Mercury 4
Vinyl Chloride 5
POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS 6
Benzene 7
Cadmium 8
POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS 9
BENZO(A)PYRENE 10
BENZO(B)FLUORANTHENE 11
CHLOROFORM 12
DDT, P,P'- 13
AROCLOR 1254 14
AROCLOR 1260 15
DIBENZO(A,H)ANTHRACENE 16
*TRICHLOROETHYLENE

4. Motivation
Pose risk to the human and ecological health from groundwater contamination
Current remedies with activated carbon are too expensive and do not destroy the contaminant

5. Propane as reductant
Economic alternative to using Hydrogen in conversion of PCE
Concentrated on experiments of propane conversion under various conditions

6. Lab Process Flow Diagram PCE + reductant + O2 CO2 + H20 + HCl

7. Cross section of reactor

8. Propane Conversion data Varying amount of oxygen from 5% to 40%

9. Varying propane concentration, oxygen concentration constant

10. Propane effect on PCE conversion

11. Conclusion
Can destroy the chlorinated solvents using a Pt/Rh catalyst effectively
Need 1.5% Propane to destroy 500ppm of PCE at 440 C

12. Price Comparison At >1% Propane, we can destroy 1lb of PCE using:
Hydrogen: $100

13. Acknowledgements
NASA Space Grant
Susan Brew
Eric Betterton, Eduardo Saez, Robert Arnold, Brian Barbaris
Erik Rupp, Marty Willinger, Suzanne Richards, Desiree Polson