Ultrasonic destruction of chloroform and carbon tetrachloride in aqueous solution

The sonochemical destruction of binary mixtures of chloroform and carbon tetrachloride in aqueous solution at 30 kHz has been studied. The influences of initial concentration, bicarbonate/chloride, and acoustical intensity on the destruction rates have been observed. It was found that the destruction of the two compounds appeared to follow pseudo-first-order reaction kinetics with the current experimental concentration range. The rate constant of chloroform for initial concentration as high as 100.4 mg/L decreased compared to initial concentration 36.13 micrograms/L, when the rate constants of carbon tetrachloride hardly changed. However, their destruction rates increased with increasing acoustical intensity and were independent of addition of bicarbonate or chloride. The resulting yield of ionic product (Cl-) for chloroform was determined.