Spectroscopic investigation of diffusion flames in supercritical water

In recent times the destruction of toxic and non-toxic organic substances in supercritical water has attracted a great deal of attention. For organic molecules, a series of reaction possibilities are available in supercritical water: e.g. hydrolysis, pyrolysis and oxidation. Some of these reactions have already been subjected to thorough investigation via model compounds with different functional groups with the aim of studying the influence of supercritical water. The greatest part of the experimental investigations involving supercritical water described up to now deals with oxidation reactions: most attention has been devoted to the flameless methane oxidation. If the temperature in increased stepwise, the ignition and formation of a methane diffusion flame occurs in supercritical water. In connection with the disposal of toxic substances, it is of interest as to whether it is possible to decompose them in diffusion flames in supercritical water. For this, knowledge of flame tempera tures is necessary. First experiments are carried out with methane as a model compound.