Abstract: Catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) process was used to treat wastewater containing organic amines with high chemical oxygen demand (COD). The effects of different types of catalysts and reaction temperature on the treatment effect were investigated. The experiment results showed that when precious metals were used as catalyst, the COD decreasing rate was the highest, reaching 96%, and when the reaction temperature was 270 ℃, the volume fraction of oxygen in tail gas and the decreasing rate of COD were about 13.1% and 96% respectively; while the energy consumption was lower, and the treatment effect was better. Under the optimal conditions of a temperature of 270 ℃ and a pressure of 7.6 MPa, using precious metal catalyst, the average decreasing rate of COD in the produced water was above 96% after 140 h continuous operation of the CWAO equipment. At the same time, the equipment material corrosion test and accelerated oxidation small-scale test were carried out, and the equipment corrosion problem was solved by adjusting the pH of the reaction water. Considering the treatment effect and operation cost, the CWAO process is competitive in treating wastewater with high COD containing organic amines.

Key words: organic ammonia wastewater, high COD wastewater, catalytic wet air oxidation, equipment corrosion