Wet Air Oxidation Process in Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

This project examines the application of wet air oxidation process in treating process wastewater with high organic content. The work focuses on investigating the efficiency of the Wet Air Oxidation (WAO) process as a pre-treatment step in an integrated chemical/biological water treatment process for industrial wastewater. Wet air oxidation is a process of oxidizing the organic compounds and inorganic components of wastewater at elevated operating conditions of temperature and pressure. High pressures of about 2-20 MPa are required for the process to keep the reactions in the liquid aqueous phase.

Literature from authors and researchers in process wastewater treatment are used in investigating the efficiency of the Wet Air Oxidation process in detoxifying highly organic wastewater. Reactor design, energy requirements and its effect on operating variables like temperature and pressure were also reviewed.Effects of oxygen and mass transfer limitations on the overall performance of the reactor was also discussed.

The increasing use of catalysts in making the Wet Air Oxidation process more efficient was also studied.Catalysts effect on the WAO efficiency process was investigated.Some other commercial WAO reactor configurations were reviewed with each having its advantages and limitations when compared with the conventional Zimmerman process.Emerging and upcoming technologies in WAO were also reviewed with the obvious advantages pointed out.