Experimental Studies on Supercritical Water Oxidation of Glucose with a Transpiring Wall Reactor

Abstract

An innovative system of supercritical water oxidation with a transpiring wall reactor was designed and constructed. Temperature fields inside the reactor, the contents of gas effluent, total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiency and energy utilization efficiency of supercritical water oxidation of glucose were investigated at different feed flow rates. Higher reaction temperature, longer useful length (UL) and longer useful residence time (URT) were achieved at 15.5 kg/h. More than 95% of TOC removal efficiency was obtained at all conditions. The highest TOC removal efficiency of 99.1% was present at 15.5 kg/h. But carbon monoxide of about 6 Vol % was present in the gas effluent due to the low reaction temperature of less than 500 °C and inadequate useful residence time. In order to obtain TOC removal efficiency of more than 99.9 % and without harmless gas effluent, the feed with a temperature of 350-400 °C and the middle branch of transpiring water (TW2) with a temperature of 200-300 °C are promoted to lengthen the useful length and increase reaction temperature. The energy utilization efficiency is about 31 % at different feed flow rates, and all components of the system should be fully insulated to improve the energy utilization efficiency.