Many reports on experiment with laboratory scale reactors exist. There are three pilot plants in operation: Energia Co. plant in Japan; VERENA Plant in Germany; and TEES Process in USA. The capacity ranges from 1 to 2.4 t-wet/d. Feedstocks tested are many including chicken manure, corn silage, and cheese whey. No commercial plants have been built mainly due to the high plant cost at present.

Further information

Antal, M. J., Jr.; Allen, S. G.; Schulman, D.; Xu, X. D.; Divilio, R. J. Biomass gasification in supercritical water, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 39, 4040-4053 (2000)

Elliott, D. C.; Hart, T. R.; Neuenschwander, G. G. Chemical Processing in High-Pressure Aqueous Environments. 8. Improved Catalysts for Hydrothermal Gasification, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 45, 3776-3781 (2006)

Kruse, A.; Henningsen, T.; Sinag, A.; Pfeiffer, J. Biomass gasification in supercritical water: Influence of the dry matter content and the formation of phenols, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 42, 3711-3717(2003) Matsumura, Y.; Minowa, T.; Potic, B.; Kersten, S. R. A.; Prins, W.; van Swaaij, W. P M.; van de Beld, B.; Elliott, D. C.; Neuenschwander, G. G.; Kruse, A.; Antal, M. J. Jr. Biomass gasification in near — and super-critical water: Status and prospects, Biomass Bioenergy, 29, 269-292 (2005)

Xu, X.; Matsumura, Y.; Stenberg, J.; Antal, M. J., Jr. Carbon-catalyzed gasification of organic feedstocks in supercritical water, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 35, 2522-2530(1996)

Yu, D.; Aihara, M.; Antal, M. J., Jr. Hydrogen production by steam reforming glucose in supercritical water, Energy Fuels, 7, 574-577 (1993)