Effects of temperature, carbon content and copper additive on formation of chlorobenzenes (CBzs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in iron ore sintering were investigated. By heating simulated fly ash (SFA) at a temperature range of 250-500 degrees C, the yield of both CBzs and PCBs presented two peaks of 637 ng/g-fly ash at 350 degrees C and 1.5 x 105 ng/g-fly ash at 450 degrees C for CBzs, and 74ng/g-fly ash at 300 degrees C and 53 ng/g-fly ash at 500 degrees C. Additionally, in the thermal treatment of real fly ash (RFA), yield of PCBs displayed two peal< values at 350 degrees C and 500 degrees C, however, yield of CBzs showed only one peak at 400 degrees C. In the thermal treatment of SFA with a carbon content range of 0-20 wt% at 300 degrees C, both CBzs and PCBs obtained the maximum productions of 883 ng/g-fly ash for CBzs and 127 ng/g-fly ash for PCBs at a 5 wt% carbon content. Copper additives also affected chlorinated aromatic formation. The catalytic activity of different copper additives followed the orders: CuCl2 center dot 2H(2)O Cu2O > Cu > CuSO4 > CuO for CBzs, and CuCl2 center dot 2H(2)O " Cu2O > CuO > Cu > CuSO4 for PCBs. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.