Insight into chlorine evolution during hydrothermal carbonization of medical waste model

•Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of PVC and medical waste model (MW) was performed.•XPS was applied to assist the investigation of chlorine evolution.•Organic chlorine in PVC and MW is efficiently converted to inorganic form by HTC.•Cellulosic materials accelerate chlorine conversion in the MW.•Further MW dechlorination is possible through leaching/extracting inorganic chlorine. In order to reveal the chlorine behavior during hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of medical waste, polyvinyl chloride and medical waste model (MW) were respectively treated by HTC at temperature ranging from 220 °C to 300 °C for 30 min. HTC products were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, etc. It is found that HTC can efficiently remove chlorine from both polyvinyl chloride and MW. The most dramatical dechlorination can be induced by HTC at around 240 °C. With HTC temperature increased, organic chlorine in HT-MW and solid product from polyvinyl chloride HTC (HT-PVC) is decreased. Interestingly, with 240 °C HTC, the organic chlorine of HT-MW was 15.30%, much lower than that of HT-PVC of 86.84%, indicating the cellulosic materials in MW can significantly boost the conversion of organic chlorine into inorganic form in HTC at 240 °C. While spherical particles assigned to HTC of cellulosic materials aggregate at the pores of polyvinyl chloride particle, trapping the release of chlorine into the liquid, consequently to lower dechlorination efficiency compared to that of polyvinyl chloride. Since the chlorine retain in the solid product was mainly in form of inorganic, further dechlorination is potential for MW by combining HTC with leaching/extracting.