TREATMENT OF WATER CONTAINING ORGANIC WASTES WITH AMMONIUM NITRATE

摘要

A single step wet oxidation process for treating wastewaters containing organic species, with or without heteroatoms, and anions of strong acids, e.g. sulfa te or phosphate ion, or cations of strong bases, e.g., sodium, potassium or calciu m ions, and which may contain ammonium ion and/or nitrate ion in addition to added ammonium ion and/or nitrate ion was developed which on thermal treatment near the critica l temperature of water removes substantially all the COD and nitrogen through conversion to water, carbon dioxide or carbonate species, nitrogen gas and small amount s of nitrous oxide. Key to the success of the process is the balancing of all reducing species with an equivalent amount of oxidizing species and the balancing of all stro ng acid anions with strong base cations. The former ensures good removal of organic species, ammonium ion and nitrate ion. The latter ensures maintaining the pH in the range of from 1.5 to 8 thus avoiding severe corrosion problems and regions of pH wher e rate of reaction of the oxidizing species with reducing species is slow.