High gradient magnetic separation applied to environmental remediation

Conference · Sun Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993

OSTI ID:10177286

Prenger, F C; Stewart, W F; Hill, D D; Avens, L R; Worl, L A; Schake, A; de Aguero, K J; Padilla, D D ^[1]; Tolt, T L ^[2]

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1. Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
2. Lockheed Environmental Systems and Technology Co., Inc., Las Vegas, NV (United States)

High Gradient Magnetic Separation (HGMS) is an application of superconducting magnet technology to the separation of magnetic solids from other solids, liquids, or gases. The production of both high magnetic fields (>4 T) and large field gradients using superconducting magnet technology has made it possible to separate a previously unreachable but large family of paramagnetic materials. This is a powerful technique that can be used to separate widely dispersed contaminants from a host material and may be the only technique available for separating material in the colloidal state. Because it is a physical separation process, no additional waste is generated. We are applying this technology to the treatment of radioactive wastes for environmental remediation. We have conducted tests examining slurries containing nonradioactive, magnetic surrogates. Results from these studies were used to verify our analytical model of the separation process. The model describes the rate process for magnetic separation and is based on a force balance on the paramagnetic species. This model was used to support bench scale experiments and prototype separator design.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 10177286
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-93-2516; CONF-930703-14; ON: DE93018372; TRN: 93:018944
• Resource Relation: Conference: International cryogenic materials conference (ICMC),Albuquerque, NM (United States),12-16 Jul 1993; Other Information: PBD: [1993]
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
MAGNETIC MATERIALS
SOILS
REMEDIAL ACTION
SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNETS
CONTAMINATION
COLLOIDS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
SAFETY
054000
540230
540250
HEALTH AND SAFETY
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS MONITORING AND TRANSPORT
SITE RESOURCE AND USE STUDIES