Near critical and supercritical water. Part I. Hydrolytic and hydrothermal processes

The potential of hot and supercritical water in applications to produce useful products, or to process unwanted compounds into environmentally compatible materials is reviewed. The potential of hot and supercritical water is high. Water changes its character from a solvent for ionic species at ambient conditions to a solvent for non-ionic species at supercritical conditions. Water at temperatures higher than ambient boiling temperature can be applied for extraction. At modest temperatures, ionic and polar species will be extracted. At higher temperatures, in particular approaching the critical temperature, nonpolar substances are readily dissolved and extracted. Hot pressurized water has a high reactivity. The reactions are commonly summarized as “hydrolysis reactions” which are catalyzed by acids, or may arise from simply hydrothermal transformations. Since CO2, dissolved in water increases the availability of protons, the addition of CO2 to liquid water catalyses hydrolysis reactions. Hydrolysis of natural plant materials provides a route to obtain fuel from non-food plant material. However, difficulties associated with operating conditions have so far limited the large scale implementations.

[1]  B. Iversen,et al.  Reactor design for in situ X-ray scattering studies of nanoparticle formation in supercritical water syntheses , 2008 .

[2]  F. Krumeich,et al.  Synthetic natural gas by hydrothermal gasification of biomass: Selection procedure towards a stable catalyst and its sodium sulfate tolerance , 2007 .

[3]  K. Arai,et al.  Microcell for potentiometric pH measurements of supercritical aqueous solutions , 2006 .

[4]  The absence of wall effects during benzonitrile hydrolysis , 1999 .

[5]  Kazue Takahashi,et al.  Basic study on treatment of waste polyvinyl chloride plastics by hydrothermal decomposition in subcritical and supercritical regions , 2004 .

[6]  Paul T. Williams,et al.  Reaction mechanisms for the decomposition of phenanthrene and naphthalene under hydrothermal conditions , 2007 .

[7]  M. Habulin,et al.  Hydrolysis of carboxymethyl cellulose catalyzed by cellulase immobilized on silica gels at low and high pressures , 2007 .

[8]  Catherine Creuly,et al.  Advanced anaerobic bioconversion of lignocellulosic waste for bioregenerative life support following thermal water treatment and biodegradation by Fibrobacter succinogenes , 2004, Biodegradation.

[9]  Herbert Vogel,et al.  Hydrothermal reactions of alanine and glycine in sub- and supercritical water , 2007 .

[10]  P. Savage,et al.  Hydrothermal stability of aromatic carboxylic acids , 2003 .

[11]  Zhen Fang,et al.  Phase behavior and reaction of polyethylene in supercritical water at pressures up to 2.6 GPa and temperatures up to 670°C , 2000 .

[12]  Kunio Arai,et al.  Dehydration Of D-glucose in high temperature water at pressures up to 80 MPa , 2007 .

[13]  J. R. Portela,et al.  New approach for kinetic parameters determination for hydrothermal oxidation reaction , 2005 .

[14]  L. Leible,et al.  Kraftstoff, Strom und Wärme aus Stroh und Waldrestholz - : Eine systemanalytische Untersuchung , 2007 .

[15]  H. Vogel,et al.  Dehydration of d-fructose to hydroxymethylfurfural in sub- and supercritical fluids , 2005 .

[16]  W. Peters,et al.  Product distribution and reaction pathways for methylene chloride hydrolysis and oxidation under hydrothermal conditions , 1998 .

[17]  Kenneth A. Smith,et al.  Optical flow cell and apparatus for solubility, salt deposition and Raman spectroscopic studies in aqueous solutions near the water critical point , 2002 .

[18]  Herbert Vogel,et al.  Hydrolysis of esters in subcritical and supercritical water , 2000 .

[19]  Andrea Kruse,et al.  Hot compressed water as reaction medium and reactant properties and synthesis reactions , 2007 .

[20]  J. Penninger,et al.  Reactions of diphenylether in supercritical water — mechanism and kinetics , 1999 .

[21]  Masaru Watanabe,et al.  Polyethylene conversion in supercritical water , 1998 .

[22]  T. Brill,et al.  Reactions of cyanamide, dicyandiamide and related cyclic azines in high temperature water , 1997 .

[23]  A. Kruse,et al.  Modelling of the pyrolysis of tert-butylbenzene in supercritical water , 1999 .

[24]  M. Kluth,et al.  Hydrothermal gasification of biomass and organic wastes , 2000 .

[25]  M. Klein,et al.  Effect of pressure on the rate of butyronitrile hydrolysis in high-temperature water , 1997 .

[26]  H. Vogel,et al.  Influence of salts on the dehydration of several biomass-derived polyols in sub- and supercritical water , 2006 .

[27]  P. Savage,et al.  Hydrothermal reactions of methylamine , 2004 .

[28]  F. Temelli,et al.  Kinetic modeling of hydrolysis of canola oil in supercritical media , 2008 .

[29]  M. J. Cocero,et al.  Application of the Anderko–Pitzer EoS to the calculation of thermodynamical properties of systems involved in the supercritical water oxidation process , 2007 .

[30]  S. Koda,et al.  Raman spectroscopic study on the local structure around O2 in supercritical water , 2004 .

[31]  P. Pavasant,et al.  Extraction of anthraquinones from roots of Morinda citrifolia by pressurized hot water: Antioxidant activity of extracts , 2006 .

[32]  Andrea Kruse,et al.  Hot compressed water as reaction medium and reactant. 2. Degradation reactions , 2007 .

[33]  K. Johnston,et al.  Neutralization of acids and bases in subcritical and supercritical water: acetic acid and HCl , 1998 .

[34]  Kunio Arai,et al.  Reactions of D-fructose in water at temperatures up to 400 °C and pressures up to 100 MPa , 2007 .

[35]  Y. Oshima,et al.  Raman spectroscopic studies on hydrogen bonding in methanol and methanol/water mixtures under high temperature and pressure , 1999 .

[36]  Masaru Watanabe,et al.  Water density dependence of formaldehyde reaction in supercritical water , 2004 .

[37]  Gerd Brunner,et al.  Hydrolysis kinetics of biopolymers in subcritical water , 2008 .

[38]  E. Dinjus,et al.  Ionic reactions and pyrolysis of glycerol as competing reaction pathways in near- and supercritical water , 2002 .

[39]  M. Antal,et al.  Mechanism and kinetics of the acid-catalyzed dehydration of ethanol in supercritical water , 1990 .

[40]  G. Schneider,et al.  Fluid mixtures at high pressures: Phase behavior and critical phenomena for binary mixtures of water with aromatic hydrocarbons , 2006 .

[41]  H. Vogel,et al.  Catalytical conversion of carbohydrates in subcritical water: A new chemical process for lactic acid production , 2005 .

[42]  R. Ziff,et al.  Critical point and coexistence curve for a flexible, simple point-charge water model , 1997 .

[43]  M. Riekkola,et al.  Pressurized hot water extraction coupled with supercritical water oxidation in remediation of sand and soil containing PAHs , 2002 .

[44]  Kunio Arai,et al.  Cellulose hydrolysis in subcritical and supercritical water , 1998 .

[45]  Zhen Fang,et al.  Phase behavior and reaction of polyethylene terephthalate–water systems at pressures up to 173 MPa and temperatures up to 490°C , 1999 .

[46]  J. Tester,et al.  Thiodiglycol hydrolysis and oxidation in sub- and supercritical water , 1999 .

[47]  Kenji Yamamoto,et al.  Evidence for the production of fluorescent pyrazine derivatives using supercritical water , 2007 .

[48]  J. Tester,et al.  Ethanol oxidation and hydrolysis rates in supercritical water , 2002 .

[49]  M. Goto,et al.  Effect of supercritical water density on the rate constant of aliphatic nitrocompounds decomposition , 2005 .

[50]  T. Arias,et al.  Chemical reactions and phase equilibria of model halocarbons and salts in sub- and supercritical water (200–300 bar, 100–600°C) , 1998 .

[51]  R. Smith,et al.  Direct observation of channel-tee mixing of high-temperature and high-pressure water , 2007 .

[52]  G. Brunner,et al.  Umwandlung von Holz unter dem Einfluß von Wasserstoff und Wasser unter höheren Drücken , 1994 .

[53]  J. Penninger,et al.  Hydrolysis of diphenylether in supercritical water , 2000 .

[54]  C. Zetzl,et al.  From plant materials to ethanol by means of supercritical fluid technology , 2008 .

[55]  Fang Zhen,et al.  Cellulose decomposition in hot-compressed water with alkali or nickel catalyst , 1998 .

[56]  B. C. Wu,et al.  Hydrolysis in supercritical water: Solvent effects as a probe of the reaction mechanism , 1990 .

[57]  M. Klein,et al.  The effect of salts on hydrolysis in supercritical and near-critical water: Reactivity and availability☆ , 1992 .

[58]  Gerd Brunner,et al.  Gas Extraction: An Introduction to Fundamentals of Supercritical Fluids and the Application to Separation Processes , 2001 .

[59]  Gerd Brunner,et al.  Production of amino acids from bovine serum albumin by continuous sub-critical water hydrolysis , 2005 .