Viscosity of glass-forming melt at the bottom of high-level waste melter feed cold caps: Effects of temperature and incorporation of solid components

Journal Article · Mon Mar 02 04:00:00 EST 2020 · Journal of American Ceramic Society

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/jace.16876· OSTI ID:1608763

Lee, Seung Min ^[1]; McCarthy, Benjamin P. ^[1]; Hrma, Pavel R. ^[2]; Chun, Jaehun ^[1]; Pokorny, Richard ^[3]; Klouzek, Jaroslav ^[4]; Klouzek, Jaroslav ^[4]; Kruger, Albert A. ^[5]

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1. BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB)
2. EMERITUS PROGRAM
3. Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague
4. Institute of Chemical Technology - Laboratory of Inorganic Materials - Czech Republic
5. OFFICE RIVER PROTECTION

At the final stages of conversion of melter feed (glass batch) to molten glass, the transient glass-forming melt becomes a continuous liquid phase encapsulating dissolving solid particles and gas bubbles that produce primary foam at the bottom of the cold cap (the reacting melter feed in an electric glass melting furnace). The glass-forming melt viscosity plays a dominant role in primary foam formation, stability, and eventual collapse, thus affecting the rate of melting (the glass production rate per cold cap area). For several melter feeds designed for nuclear waste vitrification, we have traced the glass-forming melt viscosity during the final stages of feed-to-glass conversion as it changes in response to changing temperature and composition (resulting from dissolving solid particles). Starting with a relatively low values at the moment when the melt connects, melt viscosity reaches maximum within the primary foam layer and then decreases to its final melter-operating temperature value. We paid a particular attention to the cold-cap bottom—the boundary between the primary foam layer and the thermal boundary layer—where the melt viscosity affects the rate of melting predominantly through its effect on the temperature at which primary foam is collapsing.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1608763
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-146089
• Journal Information: Journal of American Ceramic Society, Journal Name: Journal of American Ceramic Society Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 103
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English