This step is used to:

• establish treatability of the waste
• determine appropriate materials of construction
• provide data for budgetary cost estimates.

To achieve the above goals, the waste is oxidized in a series of batch reactor experiments at various temperatures, pressures, residence times, oxidant loadings, and with other reaction variables as needed. The oxidized/hydrolyzed effluents, as well as process off-gases from the reactors, are analyzed on-site using our in-house Enviroscan Analytical™ services laboratory.

In addition to performance experiments, a preliminary materials of construction study is also conducted in the autoclaves to identify alloys that are potentially applicable for the construction of the full-scale system.  Results from the bench studies are reviewed by our team of research and development staff, process and design engineers, and technical staff to determine reaction characteristics and to select appropriate test conditions for use in the the continuous flow pilot study.

Our facility has over 50 shaking autoclave batch reactors, fabricated from various alloys including:

• Nickel 200
• Stainless steel
• Alloy 20
• Inconel 600, 625
• Hastelloy - C-276
• Titanium - Grade 2, Grade 17

In addition, our research facilities house five stirred-batch reactors which can be used to produce larger volumes of oxidized effluents, and can also be used to conduct kinetic studies of the hydrothermal reactions.

The bench scale experimental conditions are tailored to each individual waste stream, and close communication with the customer is required at all stages of the development program.

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