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Title: Investigation of potential for occurrence of molten soil displacement events during in situ vitrification of combustible wastes

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6509294

Computer simulations are used to investigate the application of in situ vitrification (ISV) for processing contaminated soil containing high loadings of solid, compressible waste material, typical of landfills and solid waste trenches. Specifically, these simulations predict whether significant displacement of molten soil, due to large, 1 to 2 m diameter, gas bubbles rising up through the ISV melt, are likely to occur during processing of combustible waste-loaded sites. These bubbles are believed to originate from high-pressure regions below the melt caused by vaporization of water and gases generated by the combustion, volatilization, or pyrolyzation of combustible materials in the waste. Simulations were run using the TOUGH2 computer code to predict pressures underneath the ISV melt TOUGH2 is an unsaturated groundwater modeling code capable of treating non-isothermal problems. These simulations include moving melt front and simple pyrolysis models and investigate how the gas pressure in the soil below the melt is affected by melt progression rate, soil permeability, combustible and impermeable material loading. The following, conclusions have been drawn based on the TOUGH2 simulations.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC06-76RL01830; FG06-89ER75522
OSTI ID:
6509294
Report Number(s):
PNL-SA-21870; CONF-930205-51; ON: DE93010166
Resource Relation:
Conference: Waste management '93, Tucson, AZ (United States), 28 Feb - 4 Mar 1993
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English