Kinetics of oxidation of food wastes with H2O2 in supercritical water

In this study, supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) of carrots and beef suet was carried out in a batch reactor system with an H2O2 oxidant, at a temperature between 400 and 450°C and reaction times from 10 s to 10 min. The results showed that the oxidative decomposition of carrots and beef suet proceeded rapidly and a high total organic carbon (TOC) decomposition of up to 97.5% was obtained within 3 min at 420°C for carrots and within 5 min at 450°C for beef suet when there was a sufficient supply of oxygen. It was also found that the oxidation reaction for both carrots and beef suet might be separated into a fast reaction at the early stage and a slow reaction at the later stage. In the later stage following the early stage reaction, acetic acid, which is a fairly stable product of the early stage reaction, is the reactant and the rate of overall oxidation reaction for complete decomposition is dominated by the later stage reaction. Global kinetic analysis based on the model described above showed that the early stage oxidative reaction of beef suet could be considered as a first-order reaction with respect to the concentration of organic carbon. The activation energy was 37.3 kJ mol−1. Oxidation of acetic acid could also be expressed as a first-order reaction, and the activation energy was 106.5 kJ mol−1. The early stage oxidation reaction of carrots was too fast to be analyzed. On the basis of intermediate products identified, reaction pathways were discussed. For carrots, polysaccharides may first be hydrolyzed to glucose and then oxidation of the glucose may take place. For beef suet, glyceride is first hydrolyzed to glycerin and carboxylic acids corresponding to the components of glyceride, followed by consecutive reactions for oxidative decomposition.