FLUIDIZED BED STEAM REFORMING TECHNOLOGY FOR ORGANIC AND NITRATE SALT SUPERNATE
About two decades ago a process was developed at the Savannah River Site (SRS) to remove Cs137 from radioactive high level waste (HLW) supernates so the supernates could be land disposed as low activity waste (LAW). Sodium tetraphenylborate (NaTPB) was used to precipitate Cs{sup 137} as CsTPB. The flowsheet called for destruction of the organic TPB by acid hydrolysis so that the Cs{sup 137} enriched residue could be mixed with other HLW sludge, vitrified, and disposed of in a federal geologic repository. The precipitation process was demonstrated full scale with actual HLW waste and a 2.5 wt% Cs137 rich precipitate containing organic TPB was produced admixed with 240,000 gallons of salt supernate. Organic destruction by acid hydrolysis proved to be problematic and other disposal technologies were investigated. Fluidized Bed Steam Reforming (FBSR), which destroys organics by pyrolysis, is the current baseline technology for destroying the TPB and the waste nitrates prior to vitrification. Bench scale tests were designed and conducted at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to reproduce the pyrolysis reactions. The formation of alkali carbonate phases that are compatible with DWPF waste pre-processing and vitrification were demonstrated in the bench scale tests. Test parameters were optimized for a pilot scale FBSR demonstration that was performed at the SAIC Science & Technology Application Research (STAR) Center in Idaho Falls, ID by Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and SRNL in 2003. An engineering scale demonstration was completed by THOR{reg_sign} Treatment Technologies (TTT) and SRNL in 2006 at the Hazen Research, Inc. test facility in Golden, CO. The same mineral carbonate phases, the same organic destruction (>99.99%) and the same nitrate/nitrite destruction (>99.99%) were produced at the bench scale, pilot scale, and engineering scale although different sources of carbon were used during testing.
- Research Organization:
- Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC09-96SR18500
- OSTI ID:
- 902850
- Report Number(s):
- WSRC-STI-2007-00170; TRN: US0703001
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 26th Annual International Conference on Incineration and Thermal Treatment Technologies
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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