Hydrothermal oxidation of ammonia/organic waste mixtures

Hydrothermal oxidation is a promising new technology for the treatment of radioactive contaminated hazardous organic wastes. Los Alamos National Laboratory is currently evaluating this technology for the U. S. Department of Energy. In this paper, we present experimental results from the study of the hydrothermal oxidation of an ammonia/alcohol/uranium waste mixture. The use of a co-oxidant system consisting of hydrogen peroxide combined with nitrate is discussed. Experiments demonstrate near complete destruction of ammonia and organic compounds at 500{degrees} C, 38 MPa, and 50 seconds reaction time. The ammonia and total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations in a waste simulant is reduced from 8,500 mg/L of ammonia and 12,500 mg/L TOC to 30 mg/L ammonia and less than 10 mg/L TOC. The major reaction products are CO{sub 2}, N{sub 2}, and a small amount of N{sub 2}O. Comparison experiments with nitrate and hydrogen peroxide used individually show the advantage of the co-oxidant system