Bushra Al-Duri
University of Birmingham, UK
Title: Supercritical water oxidation for the treatment of hazardous effluents
Biography
Biography: Bushra Al-Duri
Abstract
This work presents supercritical Water Oxidation (SCWO) as the next generation of advanced processes for the treatment of hazardous compounds found in pharmaceutical, medical, laboratory and petrochemical effluents. SCWO is an advanced process based on the unique chemistry of water above its critical point (374.8°C and 25MPa). Unilike ambient water, SCW becomes miscible with all organics including stable hydrocarbons, polymers, biomass, as well as its miscibility with all gases. The reactions carried out in SCW are rapid (seconds to minutes), are highly efficient >99%, and produce no toxic emissions. This makes SCWO a strong contender to replace incineration for the destruction of non-biodegradable, chemically stable compounds found in effluents of the petrochemical industry. Furthermore, it shows great promise for the upgrading of heavy oils, production of hydrogen from biomass, to name a few applications. On a commercial scale SCWO passed through various challenges and is now on-route to the good. This work displays SCWO from fundamentals to commercialization, covering the existing concerns over the current prevailing treatment techniques and how SCWO offers advantages over such techniques. It reviews the chemistry of water and its relation to SCW behaviour, the kinetics of SCWO and SCWO reactor design. Further, it displays the main challenges, which face commercialization and the main existing SCWO commercial plants around the world.
