DEVELOPMENT OF A CROSSFLOW FILTER TO REMOVE SOLIDS FROM RADIOACTIVE LIQUID WASTE: COMPARISON OF TEST DATA WITH OPERATING EXPERIENCE - 9119

Conference · Sun Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 2009

OSTI ID:945001

Poirier, M; David Herman, D; Samuel Fink, S; Julius Lacerna, J

In 2008, the Savannah River Site (SRS) began treatment of liquid radioactive waste from its Tank Farms. To treat waste streams containing {sup 137}Cs, {sup 90}Sr, and actinides, SRS developed the Actinide Removal Process (ARP) and the Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU). The Actinide Removal Process contacts the waste with monosodium titanate (MST) to sorb strontium and select actinides. After MST contact, the process filters the resulting slurry to remove the MST (with sorbed strontium and actinides) and any entrained sludge. The filtrate is transported to the MCU to remove cesium. The solid particle removed by the filter are concentrated to {approx} 5 wt %, washed to reduce the concentration of dissolved sodium, and transported to the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) for vitrification. The authors conducted tests with 0.5 {micro} and 0.1 {micro} Mott sintered stainless steel crossflow filter at bench-scale (0.19 ft{sup 2} surface area) and pilot-scale (11.2 ft{sup 2}). The collected data supported design of the filter for the process and identified preferred operating conditions for the full-scale process (230 ft{sup 2}). The testing investigated the influence of operating parameters, such as filter pore size, axial velocity, transmembrane pressure, and solids loading, on filter flux, and validated the simulant used for pilot-scale testing. The conclusions from this work follow: (1) The 0.1 {micro} Mott sintered stainless steel filter produced higher flux than the 0.5 {micro} filter. (2) The filtrate samples collected showed no visible solids. (3) The filter flux with actual waste is comparable to the filter flux with simulated waste, with the simulated waste being conservative. This result shows the simulated sludge is representative of the actual sludge. (4) When the data is adjusted for differences in transmembrane pressure, the filter flux in the Actinide Removal Process is comparable to the filter flux in the bench-scale and pilot-scale testing. (5) Filter flux increased with transmembrane pressure, increased with axial velocity, and decreased with concentration in agreement with classical crossflow filtration theories.

• Research Organization: SRS
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-08SR22470
• OSTI ID: 945001
• Report Number(s): SRNL-STI-2008-00492
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ACTINIDES
CESIUM
LIQUID WASTES
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REMOVAL
SAVANNAH RIVER
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
STAINLESS STEELS
STORAGE FACILITIES
STRONTIUM
SURFACE AREA
TESTING
TITANATES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING