ABSTRACT
Supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) has existed as an emerging waste treatment technology for approximately 10 years. The largest existing SCWO system can process waste at a rate of approximately 4 gallons per minute. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is also investigating SCWO. Eco waste technologies is developing a proprietary SCWO system which operates above ground. In SCWO, decomposition occurs in the aqueous phase above the critical point of water. According to developers, SCWO is self-sustaining, provided the waste stream has a chemical oxygen demand of approximately 15.000 mg/L or higher. The streams entering an SCWO reactor must be heated and pressurized to supercritical conditions. Influent streams are frequently heated by thermal contact with the hot effluent. Surface and subsurface SCWO systems may have slightly different applications. In general, applications of SCWO processes may include liquid wastes, sludges, and slurried solid wastes.
