David A. Bruce, Ph.D. -- Research Activities

Supercritical Water Oxidation
The development of remediation technologies capable of destroying stabile hazardous pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) is essential to the treatment of numerous subsurface and aboveground waste forms. Supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) is a developing technology that has the potential to meet this demand. However, the effective design of an SCWO process requires detailed kinetic information about the oxidation rate of the pollutant. Our group in collaboration with researchers at the University of South Carolina (USC) and the Savannah River Site (SRS) have examined the SCWO of a variety of PCBs, especially 2-chlorobiphenyl (2-PCB), using methanol as a co-solvent. These kinetic studies are commonly carried out in a plug flow reactor at temperatures near 700 K and a pressure of 250 bar, and an aqueous solution of hydrogen peroxide is used as the oxidant source. Work thus far has shown that SCWO destruction rates greater than 99.98 % can be achieved for the destruction of PCB-contaminated job control waste similar to that encountered at many DOE sites.

Last Updated:April 18, 2009 -- Site Maintained by: Donna Kilbourne
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