Mechanochemical degradation of chlorinated contaminants in fly ash with a calcium-based degradation reagent

This report presents our results in a low-temperature mechanochemical hydrodechlorination process applied to fly ash coming from a municipal waste incinerator in order to efficiently remove all traces of PCDDs, PCDFs and PCBs. We found that the most suitable degradation agent is a mixture of metallic calcium and calcium oxide. A sample of fly ash presenting a TEQ of 5200 pg g−1 was completely detoxified (no traces of PCDDs, PCDFs and PCBs detected) after ball-milling at 400 rpm over night.

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► There are few mechanochemical hydrodechlorination processes, using mainly CaO.
► PCDDs/PCDFs/PCBs polluted fly ash ball-milling with Ca/CaO yields zero Cl content.
► MDP is carried out at room temperature, affording a limited amount of waste.