Dead-End Filtration and Crystalline Silicotitanate Cesium Ion Exchange with Hanford Tank Waste AW-102
The Direct Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) flowsheet provides for the initial production of immobilized low-activity waste (ILAW) by feeding low-activity waste (LAW) directly from tank farms to the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) LAW facility for immobilization. Prior to the transfer of feed to the WTP LAW facility, tank supernatant waste will be pretreated by the Tank Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) system to meet the WTP LAW waste acceptance criteria (<3.18E-5 Ci 137Cs/mole of Na). This pretreatment facility will filter the waste to remove suspended solids and remove cesium from the waste stream through ion exchange. Bench-scale filtration testing of 7.4 liters of diluted of AW-102 supernate was conducted using dead-end filtration in the hot cells of the Radiochemical Processing Laboratory at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. A Mott 70-mm disc filter (media grade 5) was used to capture solids. The filter area was adjusted to 2.2 in2 to match the planned TSCR supernate process volume to surface area ratio. There was no indication of filter fouling and no recoverable solids were observed on the filter. Ion exchange testing with the filtered, diluted AW-102 supernatant was conducted using crystalline silicotitanate (CST) ion exchange media. The IONSIV R9140-B CST was provided by Honeywell UOP, LLC in 2018 (Lot number 8056202-999). The column testing operations were prototypic to the intended Low-Activity Waste Pretreatment System operations in a lead-lag column format, although on a small-scale basis with 10-mL CST beds. The feed was processed downflow through the lead column and then through the lag column at ~1.8 bed volumes per hour (BV/h). After 88.6 BVs of feed processing, the volume in the feed bottle dropped below the inlet tube and the lead column fluid headspace was displaced with air. Feed processing was suspended while a new column was prepared and installed into the lead position. A total of 450 BVs of diluted AW-102 feed were processed through the new lead column; only 4.3% Cs breakthrough was achieved. This volume of feed was insufficient to generate useful Cs loading information without extrapolation. A straight-line extrapolation was used to determine the 50% breakthrough of the lead column and contract limit breakthrough from the lag. The values were found to be 1200 BVs and 930 BVs, respectively.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 1545577
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-28783; PNNL-28783-Rev.0; RPT-TCT-003-Rev.0
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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