Sub and supercritical water oxidation of pharmaceutical wastewater

Sub and supercritical water oxidation (Sub- CWO & SCWO) technology has gained attention over the past few years due to near complete conversions at shorter residences times. A pharmaceutical sample containing variety of analgesics, antibiotics, antipyretics, antifungal, beta-blockers and drug intermediates contributing to overall total organic carbon (TOC) of 2017 +/- 49 mg/L was collected from a nearby pharmaceutical industry for this research. The sample was subjected to sub and supercritical water oxidation both in batch and continuous processes. A maximum removal efficiency of 80.1% was achieved with excess oxidant (oxidation coefficient (OC 3)) at 400 degrees C for 60 min residence time in batch reactor. The pharmaceutical sample was also processed in continuous supercritical water reactor by varying both temperature (400-550 degrees C) and oxidant coefficient (0-2) at 23 MPa for 60 s residence time. With the operating temperature of 550 degrees C and OC 2 resulted in maximum removal of the pharmaceutics with efficiency of 97.8%.