摘要:
Ozone depleting fluorocarbon compounds (18) are dehalogenated through more economic reduction reaction with solvated electrons formed from lower equivalents of reactive metals (14) than previously used by reacting the partial reduction products with nitrogen-containing bases, such as ammonia (12) or alternatively, without any reactive metal by reacting with the base alone. Mixtures of fluorocarbon refrigerants including difficult-to-separate azeotropes of dichlorodifluoromethane contaminated with clorodifluoromethane are reclaimed by treating only with weak non-aqueous nitrogen-containing bases to provide essentially chemically pure dichlorodifluoromethanerefrigerant suitable for recycling/reuse. Hazardous cyanides which may develop are converted to relatively benign products during the process by introducing a base (22) to convert volatile cyanides to more stable salts which in turn are converted to useful compounds of lesser toxicity.