Hydrothermal and Supercritical Water Processes presents an overview on the properties and applications of water at elevated temperatures and pressures. It combines fundamentals with production process aspects. Water is an extraordinary substance. At elevated temperatures (and pressures) its properties change dramatically due to the modifications of the molecular structure of bulk water that varies from a stable three-dimensional network, formed by hydrogen bonds at low and moderate temperatures, to an assembly of separated polar water molecules at high and supercritical temperatures. With varying pressure and temperature, water is turned from a solvent for ionic species to a solvent for polar and non-polar substances. This variability and an enhanced reactivity of water have led to many practical applications and to even more research activities, related to such areas as energy transfer, extraction of functional molecules, unique chemical reactions, biomass conversion and fuel materials processing, destruction of dangerous compounds and recycling of useful ones, growth of monolithic crystals, and preparation of metallic nanoparticles. This book provides an introduction into the wide range of activities that are possible in aqueous mixtures. It is organized to facilitate understanding of the main features, outlines the main applications, and gives access to further information - Summarizes fundamental properties of water for engineering applications - Compares process and reactor designs - Evaluates processes from thermodynamic, economic, and social impact viewpoints

Chemical Degradation Methods for Wastes and Pollutants focuses on established and emerging chemical procedures for the management of pollutants in industrial wastewater and the environment. This reference offers an in-depth explanation of the degradation process, mechanisms, and control factors affecting each method, as well as issues crucial to th

This book examines the treatability of hazardous wastes by different physicochemical treatment processes according to the Quantitative Structure and Activity Relationship (QSAR) between kinetic rate constants and molecular descriptors. The author explores how to use these models to select treatment processes according to the molecular structure of

Supercritical water oxidation is an emerging technology for the treatment of wastes in the presence of a large concentration of water at conditions above water's thermodynamic critical point. A high-pressure, optically accessible reaction cell was constructed to investigate the oxidation of methane and methanol in the environment. Experiments were conducted to examine both flame and non-flame oxidation regimes. Optical access enabled the use of normal and shadowgraphy video systems for visualization, and Raman spectroscopy for in situ measurement of species concentrations.