Thermodynamic evaluations on the formation of dioxins and furans in combustion gas

Abstract The formation of toxic PCDD/Fs are discussed thermodynamically for COHCl quaternary combustion gas to elucidate the effects of temperature and gas composition. In most cases, these toxic gases are formed at a temperature below 400°C, representing the isomers of furans and tetra dioxin (4CDD) in similar amounts, but those of other dioxin isomers are much lower.The amounts of PCDD/Fs species formed depend greatly on the gas composition, but are always associated with the formation of chlorobenzenes. When the system contains excess oxygen such as O/C > 1, PCDD/Fs decrease sharply.Hydrogen and water vapor are quite effective in decomposing dioxins and furans to form benzene and hydrocarbons. The derived amounts of PCDD/Fs are much higher than those observed in practice because of kinetic reasons. Taking account of kinetic factors, reasonable amounts of these toxic gases are derived.Especially, the reaction of carbon deposition has always been neglected in thermodynamic calculation of PCDD/Fs because of kinetic reason, but both of solid carbon and PCDD/Fs must be coexisting in small amounts.