Photocatalytic and chemical oxidation of organic compounds in supercritical carbon dioxide. Progress report for FY97

Technical Report · Tue Sep 30 00:00:00 EDT 1997

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/13733· OSTI ID:13733

Blake, D M; Bryant, D L; Reinsch, V

'The background for the project is briefly reviewed and the work done during the nine months since funding was received is documented. Work began in January, 1997. A post doctoral fellow joined the team in April. The major activities completed this fiscal year were: staffing the project, design of the experimental system, procurement of components, assembly of the system. preparation of the Safe Operating Procedure and ES and H compliance, pressure testing, establishing data collection and storage methodology, and catalyst preparation. Objective The objective of the project is to develop new chemistry for the removal of organic contaminants from supercritical carbon dioxide. This has application in processes used for continuous cleaning and extraction of parts and waste materials. A secondary objective is to increase the fundamental understanding of photocatalytic chemistry. Cleaning and extraction using supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO{sub 2}) can be applied to the solution of a wide range of environmental and pollution prevention problems in the DOE complex. Work is being done that explores scCO{sub 2} in applications ranging from cleaning contaminated soil to cleaning components constructed from plutonium. The rationale for use of scCO{sub 2} are based on the benign nature, availability and low cost, attractive solvent properties, and energy efficient separation of the extracted solute from the solvent by moderate temperature or pressure changes. To date, R and D has focussed on the methods and applications of the extraction steps of the process. Little has been done that addresses methods to polish the scCO{sub 2} for recycle in the cleaning or extraction operations. In many applications it will be desirable to reduce the level of contamination from that which would occur at steady state operation of a process. This proposal addresses chemistry to achieve that. This would be an alternative to removing a fraction of the contaminated scCO{sub 2} for disposal and using makeup scCO{sub 2}. A chemical polishing operation can reduce the release of CO{sub 2} from the process. It can also reduce the consumption of reagents that may be used in the process to enhance extraction and cleaning. A polishing operation will also reduce or avoid formation of an additional waste stream. Photocatalytic and other photochemical oxidation chemistry have not been investigated in scCO{sub 2}. The large base of information for these reactions in water, organic solvents, or air suggest that the chemistry will work in carbon dioxide. There are compelling reasons to believe that the properties of scCO{sub 2} should increase the performance of photocatalytic chemistry over that found in more conventional fluid phases.'

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM), Office of Science and Risk Policy
• OSTI ID: 13733
• Report Number(s): EMSP-54847-97; ON: DE00013733
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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Progress Report
Catalysts
Chemical Reactions
Waste Processing
Radioactive Wastes
Chemical Wastes
Decontamination
Decommissioning
High-Level Radioactive Wastes
Remedial Action
PROGRESS REPORT
CATALYSTS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
WASTE PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
CHEMICAL WASTES
DECONTAMINATION
DECOMMISSIONING
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REMEDIAL ACTION