Detoxification of specific organic substances by wet oxidation

Abstract

Wet oxidation of toxic compounds was demonstrated to be an excellent method of detoxifying these priority pollutants. Destruction of up to 99.8+% of the starting materials was achieved by wet oxidation in the range of 275 to 320/sup 0/C for 1 hour. A copper catalyst was effective in bringing about the destruction of several more refractory compounds at 275/sup 0/C. In general, the toxicity of the oxidized materials was greatly reduced compared with that of the starting material, as shown by acute toxicity tests using Daphnia magna. Study results demonstrate the potential of wet oxidation as a unit process for detoxification of dilute aqueous mixtures of toxic compounds.