Removal of a halogen atom from an organohalide generates a radical. Such reactions are difficult to achieve and, when they can be achieved, these processes often lead to complicated mixtures.  When a pair of halides are mutually adjacent (vicinal), their removal is favored.  Such reactions give alkenes in the case of vicinal alkyl dihalides:
Most desirable from the perspective of remediation are dehalogenations by hydrogenolysis, i.e. the replacement of a  bond by a  bond. Such reactions are amenable to catalysis:
The rate of dehalogenation depends on the strength of the bond between the carbon and halogen atom. The bond dissociation energies of carbon-halogen bonds are described as:  (234 kJ/mol),  (293 kJ/mol),  (351 kJ/mol), and  (452 kJ/mol). Thus, for the same structures the bond dissociation rate for dehalogenation will be: . Additionally, the rate of dehalogenation for alkyl halide also varies with steric environment and follows this trend:   halides.