Oxidation of phenolics in supercritical water. Quarterly technical progress report, June 1, 1993--August 31, 1993

Technical Report · Fri Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1993

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10137606· OSTI ID:10137606

Savage, P E

An environmental hazard associated with coal liquefaction and gasification is the generation of aqueous waste streams containing phenolics and carcinogenic organics such as polynuclear aromatics. Oxidation in supercritical water (SCW) is an emerging technology for the ultimate destruction of phenolics and other organics in waste water streams. SCW oxidation involves the oxidation of organics in an aqueous medium at temperatures between 400--650{degree}C and pressures around 250 atm. These conditions exceed the thermodynamic critical point of water, hence the water is said to be supercritical. Wastes can be converted by SCWO to benign products: carbon is converted to CO{sub 2}, hydrogen to H{sub 2}O, and nitrogen to N{sub 2} or N{sub 2}O (but not NO{sub x}). The objective of this project is to oxidize selected phenolics in SCW and then determine the reaction kinetics (rate constants, reaction orders, activation energies) and the reaction pathways. These reaction fundamentals can then be used to evaluate, design, optimize, and control coal-conversion waste water treatment processes based on SCW oxidation. Our work to date has focused on the oxidation of o-cresol in SCW. We have explored the effects of temperature, pressure, and the concentrations of cresol, oxygen and water.

• Research Organization: Michigan Univ., Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: FG22-92PC92536
• OSTI ID: 10137606
• Report Number(s): DOE/PC/92536--T5; ON: DE94009133; BR: AA1525050
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010800
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400201
CHEMICAL AND PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES
CHEMICAL REACTION KINETICS
COAL GASIFICATION
COAL LIQUEFACTION
OXIDATION
OXYGEN
PHENOLS
PROGRESS REPORT
SUPERCRITICAL STATE
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE WATER
WATER TREATMENT