A recent research has shed light on the benefits of palladium- and iron-based catalysts by claiming that TCE, or trichloroethene, would be destroyed with the help of palladium by minimum a billion times faster as compared to iron. It has been claimed that the carcinogen TCE can do a lot damage to the environment, though it is termed as beneficial for industrial users.

“Breaking some of the bonds, instead of breaking all the carbon-chlorine bonds, is a huge problem with some TCE treatment methods. Why? Because you make byproducts that are more dangerous than TCE, like vinyl chloride”, said study author Michael Wong, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and of chemistry at Rice University, while explaining that TCE molecule has two carbon atoms and three chlorine atoms, thereby making it all the more stable.

If reports are to be believed, TCE has been tracked in, more than half of the contaminated waste sites on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund National Priorities List, thereby reflecting its severity when it’s used as chemical degreaser. Apparently, as much as $5 billion would have to be applied in case TCE has to be eradicated from groundwater.

There is need to find ways to remove TCE once and for all before its presence makes things all the more damaging for the environment.