Engineering Research Equipment Grant: Flow Reactor for Oxidation Studies in Supercritical Water

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Several technologies have been developed for the safe disposal of hazardous wastes. For dilute aqueous streams with moderate organic concentrations, oxidation in supercritical water (SCW) to innocuous compounds (such as carbon dioxide and water) has been shown to be effective. The overall objective of the PI's research is to elucidate the fundamental reaction pathways, kinetics, and mechanisms occurring during such oxidation in SCW and to understand fully the role and effect of the supercritical fluid in these reaction. An understanding of the fundamental physical and chemical phenomena operative during this process could lead to more efficient and economical process designs. In this phase of his work, the PI plans experimental studies on the conversion of some typical organic compounds (such as phenol and substituted phenol) present in waste streams. This equipment grant will provide the funds to purchase the components needed to construct a flow reactor. Flow reactors are well suited for experimental studies of such rapid exothermic reactions. Using the experimental results, the PI plans to deduce the reaction pathways and determine the relevant kinetics parameters such as the reaction order, rate constant, activation energy and activation volume for each reaction step. Reaction mechanisms will be probed by using isotopically tagged phenol, water, and oxygen and monitoring the ultimate fate of the tagged functional groups.//