Modeling of supercritical water oxidation of phenol catalyzed by activated carbon

Abstract

Model equations were developed to describe the reactions of phenol oxidation in supercritical water catalyzed by activated carbon (AC) at 400°C, 25 MPa . In the model, three reactions were considered with assuming power-law kinetics: homogeneous phenol oxidation, heterogeneous phenol oxidation, and combustion of an AC catalyst. The parameter values were determined experimentally and by the fitting with experimental results. As a result, the model expressed the reaction characteristics well with respect to the temporal changes of phenol conversion, amount of AC catalyst, and oxygen concentration in the effluent. Also, a good agreement was obtained between the experimental results and the model prediction under the condition of changing initial oxygen concentration. Temporal changes of concentration profile and reaction rate profile in the packed-bed reactor were calculated by the model.