Effects of water on reactions for waste treatment, organic synthesis, and bio-refinery in sub- and supercritical water

Current research analyzing the effects of water in the field of homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions of organics in sub- and supercritical water are reviewed in this article. Since the physical properties of water (e.g., density, ion product and dielectric constants) can affect the reaction rates and mechanisms of various reactions, understanding the effects that water can have is important in controlling reactions. For homogeneous reactions, the effects of water on oxidation, hydrolysis, aldol condensation, Beckman rearrangement and biomass refining were introduced including recent experimental results up to 100 MPa using special pressure-resistance equipment. For heterogeneous reactions, the effects of ion product on acid/base-catalyzed reactions, such as hydrothermal conversion of biomass-related compounds, organic synthesis in the context of bio-refinery, and hydration of olefins were described and how the reaction paths are controlled by the concentration of water and hydrogen ions was summarized.