A Review of Challenges and Recent Progress in Supercritical Water Oxidation of Wastewater

Supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) is a promising wastewater treatment technology. It has high destruction efficiency for a broad range of organic wastes and only produces harmless end products. However, corrosion, salt deposition and plugging, and high energy consumption and operating costs have, to a great extent, restricted the successful commercialization of SCWO process. This paper first reviews the main challenges in SCWO technology, along with their comprehensive solutions. Then, the recent research progress and applications of the most common and effective methods for solving SCWO problems are examined, with the focus put on reactor material modification, advanced reactor design, energy/product recovery, and catalysis.