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Advanced Supercritical Water Oxidation Reactor
NASA's Supercritical Water Oxidation - Flame Piloted Vortex (SCWO-FPV) Reactor implements a unique design where heating is primarily supplied by the energetics of the waste stream through the control of a hydrothermal flame in the core of the reactor with the injection of fuel and oxidizer. Once the hydrothermal flame is initiated and stabilized, an outer-core "wash" stream, consisting primarily of water, is injected near the walls at the base of the reactor. This "wash" stream maintains subcritical conditions at the reactor walls, while also dissolving and/or flushing from the reactor any precipitate and non-soluble inorganic materials generated from the supercritical reactor core. Mixing between the core region and the outer subcritical flow region is largely eliminated due to the great differences in density and viscosity. The flow configuration is further stabilized by the generation of a vortex using internal structures on the inside of the reactor wall. An aspirator assembly is positioned at the top of the supercritical core region to extract treated water and un-extracted material is recirculated through the reactor. The rate and amount of aspiration will be determined by product monitoring and will depend on waste stream content and overall operating conditions. Key aspects of the technology have been demonstrated and a prototype reactor is under development.
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