Noncatalytic organic rearrangement using supercritical water

Abstract

Significant acceleration of Beckmam and pinacol rearrangements can be achieved by using supercritical water (scH₂O), especially just near the critical point even in the absence of any acid catalysts. A high-pressure, high-temperature flow reactor system with FTlR operable at 500°C and 50 MPa was suaxssfdy developed, wherein the non-catalytic Beckmam and pinacol rearrangements using scH₂O were carried out and monitored. It has been demonstrated that scH₂0 itself acts very effectively in the place of conventional acid catalysts for both the rearrangements. The rate of the pinacol rearrangement using scH₂O is 28,200-fold rate of that in 0.871 M HCl solution at 46.7 MPa under distillation conditions. The high rate of reaction may be attributed to a great increase in the local proton concentration around the organic reactants.     

Low-temperature oxidation of SiC surfaces by supercritical water oxidation

The oxidation process on silicon carbide (SiC) surfaces is important for wide bandgap power semiconductor devices. We investigated SiC oxidation using supercritical water (SCW) at high pressure and temperature and found that a SiC surface can be easily oxidized at low temperature. The oxidation rate is 10 nm/min at 400 °C and 25 MPa, equal to that of conventional thermal dry oxidation at 1200 °C. Low-temperature oxidation should contribute to improved performance in future SiC devices. Moreover, we found that SCW oxidation at 400 °C forms a much smoother SiO₂/SiC interface than that obtained by conventional thermal dry oxidation. A higher oxidation rate and smaller microroughness are achieved at a lower oxidation temperature owing to the high density of oxidizers under SCW conditions.     

Corrosion on continuous supercritical water oxidation for polychlorinated biphenyls

Abstract

The corrosion resistance of Hastelloy C-276 and titanium alloy G5 against C1 anion which was generated by supercritical water oxidation (scWO) of 3-chlorobiphenyl (3-PCB) in a flow reactor was investigated over a period of 336 hours at a constant pressure of 30 MPa. The condition of the scWO reaction zone was fixed at 750 K. The concentration of chlorine in the effluent collected after cooling to ambient temperature was about 850 wppm. The Hastelloy C-276 has a nominal ratio of approximately 3.7 Ni/l Cr. The Ni/Cr ratio in the effluent was the same with the nominal ratio, and the Hastelloy C-276 was proved to be corroded on the surface located between the bottom of the reactor and the cooling parts, which are under sub- and near- critical conditions of water. The corrosion rate was found to be 5 to 34mm/y in the zone where the temperature ranged from 543 K to 650 K and the corrosion spread over the whole surface of the alloy; however, one can hardly observe such a serious corrosion except the zone located in the between the reactor and the cooling part.     

Oxidation of garbage in supercritical water

Abstract

In the present study, 17 kinds of organic materials selected from groups of vegetable, meat, fat and fish as main components of garbage were oxidized with H₂O₂, using a batch reactor system under the condition of supercritical water, in order to treat organic wastes of high water content and low calorific value. It was found that they were easily oxidized, and remarkable influence of the kind of material in each group on the TOC decomposition was not recognized, but meats, fats and fishes, especially beef suet, were more difficult to be oxidized than vegetables.

The residual intermediate product was acetic acid in reactions of one minute at 400°C for all materials. Based on this result, the rate expression for supercritical water oxidation of acetic acid was determined.     

Ion-exchange resin decomposition in supercritical water

Abstract

Using supercritical water oxidation, the cation exchange resin was decomposed fast and completely to water, carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid. While the resin decomposition yield increased with the reaction time and the amount of hydrogen peroxide added as oxidizing agent, it was constant in the resin concentration from 0.14 to 1.9 dry resin weight percent to water. More than 99% of the cation exchange resin was decomposed with hydrogen peroxide added in the amount of 7 times the stoichiometric value at 673 K and 30MPa for 30 minutes of the reaction time. The cation exchange resin is decomposed through two main reaction pathways. One has a rate controlling intermediate such as acetic acid whose decomposition rate was very slow, and the other does not have stable intermediates. The decomposition of the acetic acid is a significant factor for the complete decomposition of the resin, although it does not dominate the whole resin decomposition. A simple kinetic model that estimates the resin decomposition yield was developed.     

Diffusion of ions in supercritical water: Dependence on ion size and solvent density and roles of voids and necks

We have performed molecular dynamics simulations of alkali metal (Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, Rb⁺, Cs⁺) and halide (F⁻, Cl⁻, Br⁻, I⁻) ions in supercritical water at 673 K. The calculations were done for water at three different densities of 1.0, 0.7 and 0.35 g cm⁻³ to investigate the effects of solute size on the diffusion of ions in supercritical water. On increase of ion size, we observe a maximum for diffusion of ions in supercritical water of higher densities (1.0 and 0.7 g cm⁻³). However, no such maximum is found for ion diffusion in the supercritical water of low density (0.35 g cm⁻³) or for diffusion of neutral solutes at all densities. These results are analyzed in terms of passage through voids and necks present in supercritical water. Correlations of the observed diffusion behavior with the sizes of ions and voids present in the systems are discussed.     

Ab initio molecular dynamics investigations of structural, electronic and dynamical properties of water in supercritical carbon dioxide

Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of a solitary perdeuterated water molecule solvated in supercritical carbon dioxide have been performed along an isotherm at three different densities. Electron donor-acceptor interactions between the oxygen atom of water and the carbon atom of CO₂ as well as hydrogen bonded interactions between the two molecules have been shown to play a dominant role in the solvation. The mean dipole moment of the water molecule increases with the density of the solution, from a value of 1.85 D at low density to around 2.15 D at the highest density. The increase in the solvent density causes the water molecule to exhibit a range of behavior, from a free molecule to one that interacts strongly with CO₂. A blue shift in the bending mode of water has been observed with increasing solvent density. The carbon dioxide molecules which are present in the first neighbor shell of water are found to exhibit larger propensity to deviate from a linear geometry in their instantaneous configurations.      

激光波长对水中金属元素激光诱导击穿光谱探测的影响

针对激光诱导击穿光谱(LIBS)在海洋应用中的问题,对1 064和532nm两个激发波长下水中LIBS光谱特性进行探测分析,以比较其烧蚀效果。通过激光诱导等离子体的时间分辨光谱,分析水下等离子体电子密度随时间的演化规律,1 064nm激光诱导等离子体寿命约为1 200ns,而532nm激光激发情况下等离子体寿命仅约为600ns。基于光在水中的传输特性和LIBS的实验结果,建立了获得最佳LIBS探测效果所需的入水前激光脉冲能量Eiopt(r)与探测距离r的关系,并应用到水下原位探测的模拟分析。结果表明,当探测距离不大于5cm时,所需的入水前1 064nm激光单脉冲能量小于100mJ,该激发波长可用于LIBS的水下探测;当探测距离增至10cm时,所需的入水前532nm激光单脉冲能量只需30mJ左右。因此,当原位探测距离增加时,则需考虑选择532nm激光作为烧蚀光源。