A method for decomposition of hexachlorobenzene by γ-alumina

A method of decomposing hexachlorobenzene (HCB) by γ-alumina was investigated at low temperature of 300 °C. It was found that HCB was rather quickly decomposed under such a condition. Decomposition efficiency (DE) increases with increasing the surface area of γ-alumina. Pretreated γ-alumina has a better performance for the decomposition reaction. A high decomposition efficiency within the short reactive time of 60 min was achieved to be 94.2%, which was obtained by preheating γ-alumina with the surface area of 220 m2 g−1 at 450 °C for 2 h. High surface area and appropriate pretreatment temperature probably provide more reactive sites such as the isolated OH groups and Al3+ sites surrounded by O2− sites. These sites may induce the decomposition of HCB via a main ring-cracking process. The present study, hopefully, holds the promise for the eliminating of HCB contained hazardous materials in industrial application.