Is phenol condensation one of the major pathways in the formation of polychlorinated dibenzofurans in municipal waste incinerators?: Model prediction vs. field observation

The role of phenol condensation pathways in the formation of polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF) in a municipal waste incinerator was assessed by comparing predicted PCDF homologue and isomer patterns with those obtained from the incinerator. A two-phenol condensation model, dependent only on the distribution of phenols, was used to predict the distributions of PCDF congeners in the incinerator. Complete distributions of phenols and PCDF congeners were obtained from the incinerator. To quantify the degree of agreement between obtained isomer distributions and those predicted by the model, R-squared values from linear correlations were calculated for the dichlorinated- through hexachlorinated-isomers. They ranged from 0.001 to 0.1. Agreement between obtained and predicted PCDF isomers was very poor for all homologues, suggesting that phenol condensation pathways are unlikely to be the primary route in the formation of PCDF in the incinerator. However, dibenzofuran (DF) is likely to be produced from a condensation of two phenols. This paper shows the use of PCDF homologue and isomer patterns calculated by the two-phenol condensation model for testing PCDF formation mechanism attribution in a municipal waste incinerator.