METHOD FOR HOT AND SUPERCRITICAL WATER OXIDATION OF MATERIAL USING SPECIFIC REACTANTS

摘要

This invention relates to a process for the decomposition of material selected from halogenated organic compounds, to compounds which are environmentally acceptable, or are amenable to further degradation by conventional disposal systems to produce environmentally acceptable products, which process comprises: (a) conveying an aqueous solution or an aqueous slurry of material into a reaction zone capable of withstanding the temperatures and pressures of decomposition of the material; (b) contacting the material in the reaction zone with aqueous sodium carbonate as a reactant in an amount effective to decompose the material under hydrothermal oxidation conditions of between about 300 and 600 DEG C and a pressure of between about 10 and 400 atmospheres for between 0.01 and 120 min wherein the specific reactant, a carbonate such as sodium carbonate, at the reaction conditions is present at about 10 % or less as a water-soluble salt as compared to the solubility of the salt at ambient conditions wherein the specific reactant is essentially present as a solid and the oxidation occurs under heterogeneous conditions, wherein the process occurs in the presence of a gaseous oxidant wherein said oxidant is present in an amount of between about 0.01 and 50 % by weight of the material; (c) producing about 99 % or greater of the decomposition of the material, or 99 % or greater conversion of the material to compounds which are environmentally acceptable or to compounds which are amendable to further degradation; and (d) optionally degrading further the compounds produced in step (c) by reaction to environmentally acceptable products. Preferably, the specific reactant is sodium carbonate and the oxidant is oxygen or air. Preferably, the halogenated organic compound is selected from polychlorobiphenyl, polybromobiphenyl mono-chlorobenzodioxin or poly-chlorobenzodioxin compounds.