This project involved the investigation of the wet oxidation process for the treatment of waste waters from coal gasification plants and the use of the waste water for the generation of mechanical energy. Experimentally, it is necessary to measure the oxidation rate of the waste water in a wet oxidation reactor. Although it was hoped to obtain experimental data during the first year of the project, problems with the acquisition of equipment prevented assembling the experimental apparatus. The calculation part of the project involved mass and energy balances on different wet oxidation processing schemes for the generation of power. This report contains the investigation of three such schemes; two of which have been reported in the literature previously. The third scheme is a novel approach to power generation using a high temperature compressor which eliminated the condensation problems in the turbines. The calculations indicate that this third scheme is superior to other methods for energy generation from wet oxidation processes. For example, it shows that a COD of 8000 mg/m1 is sufficient to generate power for the new scheme at 1500 psia whereas 20,000 is required for the old power generation schemes. The efficiency calculated for the new scheme approaches 24% conversion to useful power whereas the old schemes had a conversion efficiency of about 10%. It is concluded that a patent of this new process should be obtained. 12 references, 15 figures, 5 tables.