Patent ID: 6929752

Claim:
A process for the oxidation of organic substances present in an aqueous effluent, said aqueous effluent being capable of comprising salts, the process comprising the following stages: injecting said aqueous effluent having an initial pressure and temperature, and comprising a predetermined amount of organic substances, into a tubular body having an inlet and an outlet; bringing said aqueous effluent to a pressure P 1 corresponding at least to the critical pressure of said aqueous effluent, said pressure P 1 being greater than the initial pressure; bringing said aqueous effluent to a temperature T 1 greater than the initial temperature with heating means applied in a zone of said tubular body; injecting into said tubular body at n points spaced apart from one another, n fractions of at least one oxidizing composition, whose sum corresponds to the amount of oxidizing composition necessary for the oxidation of said predetermined amount of organic substances, so that a portion of the thermal energy produced by the oxidation reaction increases the temperature of the reaction mixture from said temperature T 1 to a temperature T 2 which is greater than T 1 according to an increasing curve between said zone of said tubular body and the nth injection point, whereby said organic substances are oxidized, said reaction mixture continuously evolving from a subcritical liquid state to the supercritical region; and wherein said process is implemented without injecting a substance capable of simultaneously cooling the reaction medium during the oxidation reaction.