Analysts predict a boom market for SCFs during the 1990s as new pharmaceuticla applications and environmental regualtions drive the United States chemicla industry awqy from organic solvents. Many foom producers currently use SCFs in place of trichloroethylene, methylene chloride, and ethylene dichloride as agents for spice extraction, coffee and tea decaffeination, and lipid reduction. In particular, supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) exhibits great promise asa wastewater treatment process. During SCWO processing, organic substances are treated with supercritical waer at a temperature of 900 degrees Fahrenheit and a pressure of 3,400 pounds per square inch. Field tests at various textile chemicals plants show that SCWO treatment destroys over 99.9 percent of organic compounds in the liquid effluent stream. THe Department of Defense, in conjunction iwht the Department of Energy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, plans to spend $20 million per year to develop SCF technology.