Hydrothermal oxidation treatment of solid particles between 250 and 350 °C: Modelling and experiments

Abstract

Hydrothermal oxidation is an efficient and clean way for the treatment of wastewater containing organic matter. The purpose of this work is to develop a mathematical model of a reactor for hydrothermal oxidation. This reactor is of the tank type and it is designed for the oxidation of solid particles of waste or biomass. According to some previous work, the experimental device developed by the Institut de Chimie et de la Matiere condensee de Bordeaux is known to behave as a battery of three completely stirred tank reactors (CSTR). To reach our goal, governing equations are written within each of the three CSTR. This set of equations is composed of the mass, species and energy balances for the fluid phase as well as equations allowing for the evaluation of the rate of shrinkage of a particle (shrinking core model) and a population balance. Thanks to this model, the particle size distribution (PSD) of the output of the reactor is computed as a function of the incoming one and of the operating parameters (temperature, residence time, pressure, …). The numerical predictions of the model are compared to experimental profiles obtained in the case of hydrothermal oxidation treatment of black carbon. These comparisons show very good agreement.