Super critical water oxidation on energetic materials
Supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) is an innovative process for the destruction of hazardous wastes that occurs above the critical temperature and pressure of water. In this paper we present results for the oxidation of simple organic wastes and the destruction of explosives. We have tested a 50 gal./day mobile tubular reactor using both acetone and hexane as surrogate aqueous wastes in reaction with excess oxygen. For acetone, our results indicate that the fuel and oxidant can be conveniently premixed before heating and the acetone effectively destroyed (>99.999%). By contrast, hexane, and likely other insoluble flammable organics must be separately preheated to above the critical temperature of water to avoid detonation. With regards to the treatment of explosives, we have demonstrated detection-sensitivity-limited destruction (typically >99.9%) of five explosives, HMX, RDX, TNT, NQ, and PETN, in a smaller scale SCWO reactor. Two alternative methods of increasing processing throughput for explosives, which have very low solubility in water at room temperature, were also investigated. They are the use of slurries and the SCWO postprocessing of the products of explosives hydrolyzed in low-temperature, basic solutions.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States); Department of Defense, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 10143187
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-93-921; CONF-9304110-2; ON: DE93010704
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 1993 MAES national symposium on super critical water oxidation on energetic materials,Long Beach, CA (United States),Apr 1993; Other Information: PBD: [1993]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVES
DECOMPOSITION
ORGANIC WASTES
OXIDATION
SUPERCRITICAL STATE
WATER
CHEMICAL REACTORS
ACETONE
HEXANE
TNT
PETN
TATB
450100
320305
CHEMICAL EXPLOSIONS AND EXPLOSIVES
INDUSTRIAL WASTE MANAGEMENT