Supercritical water oxidation permitting

If neither the ACWA nor the commercially mature technologies can be used as is—if, for example, substantial process or permit modifications would be needed to dispose of nonstockpile neutralents—then the committee recommends that NSCMP should invest R D resources first in further improvements in chemical oxidation and wet-air/02 oxidation. Only if these technologies cannot be adapted easily does the committee recommend that the Army consider investing resources in supercritical water oxidation (batch mode). ... 

The earliest reported demonstration of enzymatic activity in a supercritical fluid was for the reaction of disodium p-nitrophenyl phosphate to p-nitro-phenol, catalysed by alkaline phosphatase. Randolph et aL [26] detected the product in yields of up to 71% in carbon dioxide at 35°C and 100 atm, in the presence of 0.1% v/v water. Hammond et al. [33] found tyrosinase, a polyphenol oxidase, to be catalytically active for the oxidation of 4-methyl phenol in both supercritical carbon dioxide at (36 2)°C and supercritical trifluoro-methane at (34 2)°C, with oxygen, at a total pressure of 345 bar. Use of a flow reactor permitted isolation of greater quantities of the catecholic product (1,2-dihydroxy, 4-methylbenzene). Oxidative activity for 4-chlorophenol substrate was appreciably lower. 

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