title: Effects of water on reactions for waste treatment, organic synthesis, and bio-refinery in sub- and supercritical water.
abstract: Current research analyzing the effects of water in the field of homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions of organics in sub- and supercritical water are reviewed in this article. Since the physical properties of water (e.g., density, ion product and dielectric constants) can affect the reaction rates and mechanisms of various reactions, understanding the effects that water can have is important in controlling reactions. For homogeneous reactions, the effects of water on oxidation, hydrolysis, aldol condensation, Beckman rearrangement and biomass refining were introduced including recent experimental results up to 100 MPa using special pressure-resistance equipment. For heterogeneous reactions, the effects of ion product on acid/base-catalyzed reactions, such as hydrothermal conversion of biomass-related compounds, organic synthesis in the context of bio-refinery, and hydration of olefins were described and how the reaction paths are controlled by the concentration of water and hydrogen ions was summarized.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environment Systems, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8563, Japan.
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akizuki
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Compact Chemical System, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, 4-2-1 Nigatake, Miyagino-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 983-8551, Japan.
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.affiliation: Division for Environment, Health and Safety, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8654, Japan.
authors.forename: Rumiko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Environment Systems, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8563, Japan. Electronic address: oshima@k.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Yoshito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Oshima
mesh_terms: D056804:Biofuels; D018533:Biomass; D019149:Bioreactors; D060326:Chemistry Techniques, Synthetic; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D014867:Water
keywords: Acid/base-catalyzed reaction; Bio-refinery; Gasification; Hydrothermal reaction; Organic synthesis; Subcritical water; Supercritical water; Supercritical water oxidation