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Title: Oxidation of phenolics in supercritical water. Quarterly technical progress report, 1 December 1993--28 February 1994

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10150739· OSTI ID:10150739

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 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 SCWO.

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:
10150739
Report Number(s):
DOE/PC/92536-T6; ON: DE94011782; BR: AA1525050; TRN: AHC29411%%36
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: [1994]
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English