THERMOCHEMICAL NITRATE DESTRUCTION

The thermochemical destruction of nitrate was conducted in an aqueous media. Six reducing agents (ammonia, formate, urea, glucose, methane, and hydrogen) were mixed separately with 3 wt % NO3- buffered aqueous solutions at pH 13; ammonia and formate were also mixed at pH 4. React ions were conducted in a batch reactor in the absence of air at temper atures of 200-350-degrees-C and pressures of 600-2800 psig. Reaction t imes varied from 0.5 to 3.0 h. Both gas and liquid samples from the re action were analyzed. The specific components analyzed were nitrate, n itrite, nitrous oxide, nitrogen, and ammonia. The observed order of ni trate reduction effectiveness in basic solution was formate > glucose > urea > hydrogen > ammonia almost-equal-to methane. Ammonia was more effective under acidic conditions than basic conditions. Formate was a lso effective under acidic conditions.