Supercritical water oxidation—Current status of full-scale commercial activity for waste destruction

After more than three decades since its potential was first recognized, supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) remains an innovative and viable treatment technology for destruction of aqueous based organic wastes. An extensive data base of destruction efficiencies, corrosion data, and salt phase behavior has been developed over the years through the combined efforts of many investigators at both the fundamental research and commercial level. As a result, SCWO technology has been increasingly utilized in a variety of full-scale designs and applications, handling feeds as diverse as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), sewage sludge, spent catalysts, and chemical weapons. This paper reviews the status of current full-scale commercial SCWO facilities around the world, focusing on the unique challenges and design strategies employed by different companies for corrosion and salt precipitation control in each application. A summary of past commercial SCWO activity as well as future plans among the current active SCWO companies is also included.

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► The status of current full-scale commercial SCWO facilities is reviewed.
► There are currently 6 commercial firms active in SCWO.
► There are 2 full-scale commercial SCWO plants (and 1 near-critical hydrolysis plant) that are operating in the world today.
► There are 9 full-scale SCWO plants in the planning stages, with 7 expected to begin operation within the next 1–2 years.