A
system and method for treating, degrading, and incinerating a
fluorocarbon or fluorinated material, such as
Freon®, with reduced emissions of gaseous perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) is provided. The method includes mixing the fluorinated material with a
hydroxide base and optionally a
solvent system, such as
diglyme, polyethers, polyether
alcohol, a
polyethylene glycol selected from
ethylene glycol and PEG50 through PEG3350, N-methylpyrrolidine, cyrene and / or water ("
solvent"), in a
batch reactor to form a reaction mixture, also referred to as a suspension. The reaction mixture is heated to a temperature
ranging from about 25o C to about 400 ºC for about 0.5 hours to about 240 hours to defluorinate the fluorinated material and produce a defluorinated
waste product. More specifically, the method converts organic
fluorine present in the fluorinated material, such as
Freon®, to inorganic
fluoride. Thus, the defluorinated
waste product can be incinerated with reduced emissions of harmful gaseous PFCs.