Supercritical Water Oxidation (SCWO) technology holds great promise for treating mixed wastes, in an environmentally safe and efficient manner. In the spring of 1994 the US Department of Energy (DOE), Idaho Operations Office awarded Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation, of Boston Massachusetts and its sub-contractor MODAR, Inc. of Natick Massachusetts a Supercritical Water Oxidation Data Acquisition Testing (SCWODAT) program. The SCWODAT program was contracted through a Cooperative Agreement that was co-funded by the US Department of Energy and the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program. The SCWODAT testing scope outlined by the DOE in the original Cooperative Agreement and amendments thereto was initiated in June 1994 and successfully completed in December 1995. The SCWODAT program provided further information and operational data on the effectiveness of treating both simulated mixed waste and typical Navy hazardous waste using the MODAR SCWO technology.

This report discusses the phase one testing of a data acquisition system for a supercritical water waste oxidation system. The system is designed to destroy a wide range of organic materials in mixed wastes. The design and testing of the MODAR Oxidizer is discussed. An analysis of the optimized runs is included.

Supercritical Water Oxidation (SCWO) is a high pressure oxidation process that blends air, water, and organic waste material in an oxidizer in which where the temperature and pressure in the oxidizer are maintained above the critical point of water. Supercritical water mixed with hydrocarbons, which would be insoluble at subcritical conditions, forms a homogeneous phase which possesses properties associated with both a gas and a liquid. Hydrocarbons in contact with oxygen and SCW are readily oxidized. These properties of SCW make it an attractive means for the destruction of waste streams containing organic materials. SCWO technology holds great promise for treating mixed wastes in an environmentally safe and efficient manner. In the spring of 1994 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiated a Supercritical Water Oxidation Data Acquisition Testing (SCWODAT) program. The SCWODAT program provided further information and operational data on the effectiveness of treating both simulated mixed waste and typical Navy hazardous waste using the SCWO technology. The program concentrated on the acquisition of data through pilot plant testing. The Phase I DOE testing used a simulated waste stream that contained a complex machine cutting oil and metals, that acted as surrogates for radionuclides. The Phase II Navy testing included pilot testing using hazardous waste materials to demonstrate the effectiveness of the SCWO technology. The SCWODAT program demonstrated that the SCWO process oxidized the simulated waste stream containing complex machine cutting oil, selected by DOE as representative of one of the most difficult of the organic waste streams for which SCWO had been applied. The simulated waste stream with surrogate metals in solution was oxidized, with a high destruction efficiency, on the order of 99.97%, in both the neutralized and unneutralized modes of operation.

The U.S. Army has asked the National Research Council (NRC) to evaluate whether supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) is an effective and appropriate means of eliminating hazardous or toxic organic constituents in VX hydrolysate for ultimate disposition. The NRC was not asked to conduct an in-depth analysis of the entire integrated VX bulk agent destruction and disposal process for the Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility. As the facility design is being finalized (March 1999-April 2000), the NRC will probably be asked to assess all aspects of the facility design, including monitoring, containment, process control, and redundancy, as well as the quantitative risk assessment (QRA). This report outlines the elements of the proposed neutralization/SCWO technology, evaluates the results of ongoing SCWO tests, and makes recommendations concerning aspects of the technology that require further development. The scope of this evaluation did not include evaluations of other potential technologies or management options for the treatment of VX hydrolysate.

Covers: energy recovery, space life support applications, hazardous waste, shipboard applications, conventional munitions, therodynamics and kinetics, and much more. Graphs and diagrams.

Sub- and Supercritical Hydrothermal Technology: Industrial Applications offers a practical view of a variety of industrial applications and their challenges, offering a deep understanding of the application of sub- and supercritical fluids and their techno-economic viability. This book covers a wide range of applications of hydrothermal processing that result in almost zero waste, high energy efficiency, sustainable chemical processes, and minimal impact over the life cycle. These applications include processing of hazardous waste, bioproducts, coal, lipids, heavy oil and bitumen, and carbon materials. The use of hot-compressed water instead of different organic solvents, such as methanol, acetone, and hexane, is an environmentally benign, green, and sustainable option which can help to design chemical processes that support green chemistry and engineering. This book is pertinent for researchers and professionals in the fields of chemical engineering, industrial chemistry, environmental engineering, materials engineering, and manufacturing.

Assessment of Supercritical Water Oxidation System Testing for the Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant reviews and evaluates the results of the tests conducted on one of the SCWO units to be provided to Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant. The Army Element, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (ACWA) is responsible for managing the conduct of destruction operations for the remaining 10 percent of the nation's chemical agent stockpile, stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot (Kentucky) and the Pueblo Chemical Depot (Colorado). Facilities to destroy the agents and their associated munitions are currently being constructed at these sites. The Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP) will destroy chemical agent and some associated energetic materials by a process of chemical neutralization known as hydrolysis. The resulting chemical waste stream is known as hydrolysate. Among the first-of-a-kind equipment to be installed at BGCAPP are three supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) reactor systems. These particular hydrolysate feeds present unique non-agent-related challenges to subsequent processing via SCWO due to their caustic nature and issues of salt management.This report provides recommendations on SCWO systemization testing inclusive of durability testing and discusses systemization testing objectives and concepts.