Wet air co-oxidation of decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE209) and tetrahydrofuran

Abstract The wet air co-oxidation (WACO) of a major commercial polybrominated diphenyl ether flame retardant congener, decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE209), was investigated using tetrahydrofuran (THF) as an initiator in a stainless autoclave at temperature range of 120–170 °C and 0.5 MPa oxygen pressure. Compared to the single oxidation of BDE209 under the same conditions, the addition of THF in the reaction system greatly improved the removal efficiency of BDE209. The effect of temperature on the reaction was studied. The removals of BDE209 and Br increased with increasing temperature. In addition, the effect of NaNO 2 as the catalyst on the WACO was also investigated and the results showed that the addition of NaNO 2 could improve the Br removal efficiency.