Degradation of acetonitrile residues using oxidation processes

several oxidation processes were investigated to degrade residues of acetonitrile. alternatives such as photolysis, degradation with hydrogen peroxide, fenton and photo-fenton processes were investigated. among the options studied, photolysis proved to be the best choice. photolysis promoted 100% degradation of 20% aqueous acetonitrile solutions in 30 hours. this method proved to be a cheap alternative to decompose toxic residues of acetonitrile, which tend to be accumulated in laboratories that use rp-hplc equipments.