LFCM (liquid-fed ceramic melter) processing characteristics of mercury

Conference · Fri Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990

OSTI ID:6324419

Goles, R W; Sevigny, G J; Andersen, C M

An experimental-scale liquid-fed ceramic melter was used in a series of tests to evaluate the processing characteristics of mercury in simulated defense waste under various melter operating conditions. This solidification technology had no detectable capacity for incorporating mercury into its borosilicate, vitreous, product, and essentially all the mercury fed to the melter was lost to the off-gas system as gaseous effluent. An ejector venturi scrubber condensed and collected 97% of the mercury evolved from the melter. Chemically the condensed mercury effluent was composed entirely of chlorides, and except in a low-temperature test, mercury chlorides (Hg{sub 2}Cl{sub 2}) was the primary chloride formed. As a result, combined mercury accounted for most of the insoluble mass collected by the process quench scrubber. Although macroscopic quantities of elemental mercury were never observed in process secondary waste streams, finely divided and dispersed mercury that blackened all condensed Hg{sub 2}Cl{sub 2} residues was capable of saturating the quenched process exhaust with mercury vapor. However, the vapor pressure of mercury in the quenched melter exhaust was easily and predictably controlled with an off-gas stream chiller. 5 refs., 4 figs., 12 tabs.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/NE
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 6324419
• Report Number(s): PNL-SA-17928; CONF-900809--5; ON: DE91004069
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052001* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Processing
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
BOROSILICATE GLASS
CERAMIC MELTERS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
CHLORIDES
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ELECTRIC FURNACES
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
FURNACES
GASEOUS WASTES
GLASS
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
LIQUID WASTES
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
MERCURY
MERCURY CHLORIDES
MERCURY COMPOUNDS
MERCURY HALIDES
METALS
OFF-GAS SYSTEMS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
POLLUTION CONTROL EQUIPMENT
PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
SCRUBBERS
SOLIDIFICATION
VITRIFICATION
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES