Selective Subcritical Water Extraction of Aromatic and Aliphatic Organic Pollutants from Petroleum Industry Soils and Sludges

Supercritical fluids have received much attention for analytical and processing applications. In particular, supercritical carbon dioxide has been used to extract relatively non-polar organics from a variety of environmental matrices, and has also been used for chemical processing. While supercritical carbon dioxide is relatively unreactive and is not an efficient solvent for polar organics, supercritical water is highly reactive and an excellent solvent for polar and non-polar organics. However, the extreme conditions required (T>374°C, P>218 atm) and the high reactivity of supercritical water have limited its use almost exclusively to the destruction of very hazardous materials (e.g., nerve gas agents).