Laboratory demonstration of the two-step process for decontaminating low-radioactivity-level process waste water by scavenging-precipitation and foam separation

Technical Report · Fri Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1965

OSTI ID:5767976

Davis, W Jr; Kibbey, A H; Schonfeld, E

The two-step process for decontaminating low-level radioactive waste water was demonstrated in two continuous runs on a laboratory scale. The process consists in first precipitating and eliminating most of the suspended solids and soluble hardness in a suspended-bed sludge column and then producing further decontamination in a counter-current foam column. Overall decontamination factors for Sr, Co, Ru, and Ce were > 3.7 x 10/sup 3/, 2.3 to 4, 2 to 5, and 50 to 180, respectively. The cesium decontamination factor was 20 when 60 ppM of grundite clay (baked at 600/sup 0/C for 20 min) was added to the low-level waste (LLW) during the precipitation step. The ratio of surface to liquid flow rate is the crucial factor governing satisfactory strontium decontamination in the foam column. The metal ion decontamination factor in the foam-separation step is proportional to the metal ion distribution coefficient and inversely proportional to the volume reduction and liquid throughput. The cost of chemicals for this process is 26.6 cents per 1000 gal of LLW. Development of the process flowsheet required the study of several problems or variables. These included: (1) the effects of pH on precipitation of hardness ions; (2) the prevention of inhibitory effects of phosphates present in the waste water on the precipitation of calcium carbonate; (3) study of the sludge density as a function of liquid flow rate and bed depth; (4) the degree of biodegradability and fast quantitative analysis of surfactants; (5) the effect of splitting the feed of surfactant into the foam column; (6) volume reduction; and (7) recovery of surfactant.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 5767976
• Report Number(s): ORNL-3811
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
FOAM SEPARATION
PRECIPITATION
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
BIODEGRADATION
CERIUM
CESIUM
CLAYS
COBALT
COST
DECONTAMINATION
FLOWSHEETS
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
PH VALUE
RUTHENIUM
STRONTIUM
SURFACTANTS
ALKALI METALS
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CLEANING
DECOMPOSITION
DIAGRAMS
ELEMENTS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
METALS
MINERALS
PLATINUM METALS
PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RARE EARTHS
REFRACTORY METALS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES
052001* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Processing