Rheological porperties of simulated vitrification feeds
- Westinghouse Savannah River Company, Aiken, SC (United States)
Radioactive waste will be immobilized in borosilicate glass at the Savannah River Site inside a remotely operated vitrification facility. In-process, on-line rheological measurements are preferred in a plant operating environment. Experiments were conducted to determine the rheological properties of a vitrification feed simulant to ensure compatibility with process equipment and determine the best data system for slurry characterization. Rheological feed properties were measured using a concentric cylinder rheometer and compared to theoretical models. Above shear rates of 200 sec{sup -1}, the appearance of the flow curves indicated inertial forces were significant and the analysis was hindered by variable gap sizes caused by particle deposition on the outer cylinder surface. Samples with varying weight percents of insoluble solids were analyzed to determine the variation in rheological properties with solids concentration. The consistency was found to be temperature dependent, but the yield stress was found to be relatively insensitive to temperatures between 25 and 50 C. These correlations were used to guide the operation of the dewatering process. The target solids concentration of the feed was set at 41 wt% insoluble solids to raise the yield stress of the slurry to about 100 dynes/cm{sup 2}. This alleviated foaming of the material caused by entrainment of air within the processing equipment and the slurry was successfully vitrified. A combination of concentric cylinder rheometers and tube rheometers provides the best data system for characterizing the rheology of a vitrification slurry.
- OSTI ID:
- 210278
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9509139-; TRN: 95:008324-0119
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 7. ACS special symposium: emerging technologies in hazardous waste management, Atlanta, GA (United States), 17-20 Sep 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Emerging technologies in hazardous waste management VII; Tedder, D.W. [ed.]; PB: 1352 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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