Supercritical water oxidation(SCWO)

as a new and highly effective technique for waste disposal attributing to the special nature of water in the supercritical state

has significant advantages of disposing of sewage and industrial sludge which contain dissolved organic matters(DOM) and persistent organic pollutants(POPs).This paper summarized the progress in basic principles of SCWO

including free radicals reaction as same as wet air oxidation

internal combustion by thermal flames

etc.Research progress on treatment of different kinds of sludge by SCWO at domestic and abroad were reviewed

and main influence factors such as reaction temperature

systematic pressure

reaction time

catalyst

oxidant and co-oxidant

were concluded systematically.Applications of SCWO for sludge treatment in pilot scale and commercial full scale

in USA

Ireland

Sweden and China were introduced in details including its technological process

technical parameters and investment/operation cost.Based on the analysis of its existing disadvantages and problems

referring to salt precipitation

corrosion

high energy consumption and difficult operation of equipment

the future research direction for SCWO were also pointed out.