Hydrothermal system for treatment of adsorbent regeneration byproducts
AssigneeUniversity of Washington
InventorsBrian Pinkard, Igor Novosselov
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A continuous reactor and method for destroying contaminants, such as perfluoroalkyl and/or polyfluoroalkyl substances in various feedstocks. Liquid byproducts are continuously hydrolyzed in an aqueous alkaline solution to achieve greater than 99.99% destruction of the contaminants. Continuous hydrolysis achieves a greater conversion efficiency as compared to batch reactions and has a wide application of contaminated feedstocks.
Claims14
A method for destroying perfluoroalkyl and/or polyfluoroalkyl substances, comprising:
- introducing a liquid byproduct including a perfluoroalkyl and/or polyfluoroalkyl substance to a reactor;
- hydrolyzing in the reactor under alkaline conditions the perfluoroalkyl and/or polyfluoroalkyl substance in the liquid byproduct, wherein a temperature of the reactor is maintained between 300° C. and 400° C., wherein a pressure in the reactor is maintained between 0.1 MPa and 50 MPa, and wherein a pH in the reactor is maintained between 13 and 15.3 (OH− ion loading of between 0.1 M and 20 M);
- and
- producing a continuous stream of product from the reactor, wherein the liquid byproduct is selected from:
- a brine containing water, 20% wt. or less of a salt or base, and 1% wt. or less of the perfluoroalkyl and/or polyfluoroalkyl substance, or
- a solution containing 50 to 90 vol % of an alcohol, 10 to 50 vol % of water, 1 to 5 wt % of a salt or a base, and the perfluoroalkyl and/or polyfluoroalkyl substance, or
- a byproduct from ozone foam fractionate processing having 100 ug/L (ppb) to 10 mg/L (ppm) of the perfluoroalkyl and/or polyfluoroalkyl substance, or
- a byproduct from thermal treatment of soil or spent sorbents containing the perfluoroalkyl and/or polyfluoroalkyl substance, or
- a byproduct from wet scrubbers used to capture contaminants in an emission stream of incinerators, rotary kilns or other thermal destructive processes;
- or
- an aqueous film-forming foam having 0.3 to 6% by weight of the perfluoroalkyl and/or polyfluoroalkyl substance;
- or
- reverse osmosis reject brine having from 1 ug/L (ppb) to 10 mg/L (ppm) of the perfluoroalkyl and/or polyfluoroalkyl substance;
- or
- nanofiltration reject brine having from 1 ug/L (ppb) to 10 mg/L (ppm) of the perfluoroalkyl and/or polyfluoroalkyl substance.
A method for destroying a contaminant in a byproduct from an adsorbent media regeneration or reactivation process, comprising:
- introducing a byproduct from an adsorbent media regeneration or reactivation process to a reactor;
- and
- hydrolyzing in the reactor under alkaline conditions a contaminant in the byproduct, wherein a temperature of the reactor is maintained between 300° C. and 400° C., wherein a pressure in the reactor is maintained between 0.1 MPa and 50 MPa, and wherein a pH in the reactor is maintained between 13 and 15.3 (OH− ion loading of between 0.1 M and 20 M) wherein the byproduct is a liquid selected from:
- a brine containing water, 20% wt. or less of a salt or base, and 1% wt. or less of the contaminant, or
- a solution containing 50 to 90 vol % of an alcohol, 10 to 50 vol % of water, 1 to 5 wt % of a salt or a base, and the contaminant.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.