Supercritical water oxidation: An environmentally safe method for the disposal of organic wastes

Supercritical water oxidation provides a powerful means to transform toxic organic materials into simple, relatively inert oxides. Over the past decade, our understanding of the fundamental chemistry of this process has increased markedly. Many fascinating research papers are appearing from laboratories around the world, on the use of the technique for the decomposition of a variety of organic wastes. This paper summarizes the important findings of few such studies, which are particularly relevant to the disposal of industrial waste water containing organic pollutants.