Transpiring wall supercritical water oxidation reactor salt deposition studies

Sandia National Laboratories has teamed with Foster Wheeler Development Corp. and GenCorp, Aerojet to develop and evaluate a new supercritical water oxidation reactor design using a transpiring wall liner. In the design, pure water is injected through small pores in the liner wall to form a protective boundary layer that inhibits salt deposition and corrosion, effects that interfere with system performance. The concept was tested at Sandia on a laboratory-scale transpiring wall reactor that is a 1/4 scale model of a prototype plant being designed for the Army to destroy colored smoke and dye at Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas. During the tests, a single-phase pressurized solution of sodium sulfate (Na{sub 2}SO{sub 4}) was heated to supercritical conditions, causing the salt to precipitate out as a fine solid. On-line diagnostics and post-test observation allowed us to characterize reactor performance at different flow and temperature conditions. Tests with and without the protective boundary layer demonstrated that wall transpiration provides significant protection against salt deposition. Confirmation tests were run with one of the dyes that will be processed in the Pine Bluff facility. The experimental techniques, results, and conclusions are discussed