(262b) Hydrothermal Electrolysis of Organic Contaminants

Recently, there is a rising interest for the disposal of bio-related components, which cannot be easily treated by biological processes. We have been developing hydrothermal electrolysis, by which the pollutant organics can be converted to innocuous compounds, such as carbon dioxide and water, under high-temperature and high-pressure aqueous conditions. In this study, hydrothermal electrolysis of various alcohols (1-butanol, 2-butanol, ethylene glycol, etc.) were investigated in terms of the reaction safety, the reaction-controlling parameters, the current efficiency and the possible reaction scheme. We tried to understand the effects of electricity loading on the molecular transformation of these alcohols through the comparison of the product distribution obtained by hydrothermal electrolysis with that by hydrothermal degradation. The experiments were carried out under hydrothermal (503-563 K and 5-20 MPa) conditions with a 500 ml batch autoclave equipped with a stirring impeller, electrodes, electric heating device, temperature control unit and a pressure gauge. We could understand fundamental reaction behavior of those alcohols under this condition through various kinds of experiments and product analysis.