Sonochemistry of degrading p-chlorophenol in water by high frequency ultrasound

The degradation process and mechanism of p-chlorophenol in water using high frequency ultrasound (1.7 mHz) was investigated in this paper. The p-chlorophenol was degraded successfully in the high frequency ultrasonic device with low consumption of energy. The degradation effect was improved by increasing the solution concentration. No products or intermediate products were detected in the reaction mixture by the analytic methods of MS and H-1-NMR after ultrasonic irradiation. The dominant degradation mechanism is high temperature pyrolysis in ultrasonic cavities rather than free radical oxidation, and the experimental results can be explained completely according to pyrolysis mechanism. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.