Combination of microwave radiation and a nucleophile material in alkaline environment on the destruction of aroclor 1262 in real transformer waste oil

 This research was done to assess the dechlorination and destruction of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in real-waste transformer oil via microwave (MW) radiation. 

 The influence of MW power, reaction time, polyethylene glycol, zero-valent iron powder, sodium hydroxide (NaOH), and water (H 2 O) were investigated on the dechlorination and destruction efficiency of PCBs in real-waste transformer oil under MW radiation. 

 The findings show that polyethylene glycol and NaOH have great influence on destruction of PCBs. However, iron (Fe) did not have any influence, and H 2 O decreased the destruction efficiency of PCBs. Moreover, experimental data showed that with optimum amount of variables [ie, polyethylene glycol (PEG) = 5.4 g, NaOH = 1.13g, Fe = 0.6g, H 2 O = 0.8 mL, and MW power of 800 W], more than 99.9% of PCBs were destructed at reaction time of 6 min. Furthermore, destruction of PCBs in the absence of water increased up to 100% after 6 min. 

 Accordingly, results showed that MW radiation and reactants (PEG and NaOH) were very important factors for the destruction of PCBs from real-waste transformer oil.