Mediated Electrochemical Oxidation of Mixed Wastes

Mediated electrochemical oxidation (MEO) is part of the family of technologies that includes all metalion-catalyzed electrochemical processes for organic destruction. The underlying chemistry was described in the 1960s and has since been reviewed with a historical perspective describing applications at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) over a period of 17 years by the early workers (Ryan et al., 1992) at PNNL. The aim of the earliest applications of catalyzed electrochemical processes at PNNL was to accelerate the dissolution of plutonium oxide from solid mixed transuranic oxides recovered from reactors. The CEPOD process (Catalyzed Electrochemical Plutonium Oxide Dissolution), employed either a silver or a cerium metal ion as the electrocatalyst to facilitate the dissolution of plutonium oxide by its oxidation to the PuO₂²⁺ ion (Ryan et al., 1992).