One-dimensional cold cap model for melters with bubblers

Journal Article · Tue Jul 28 04:00:00 UTC 2015 · Journal of the American Ceramic Society

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jace.13775 · OSTI ID:1259504

Pokorny, Richard ^[1]; Hilliard, Zachary J. ^[2]; Dixon, Derek R. ^[2]; Schweiger, Michael J. ^[2]; Guillen, Donna P. ^[3]; Kruger, Albert A. ^[4]; Hrma, Pavel ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Prague (Czech Republic)
2. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
3. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
4. U.S. Dept. of Energy, Richland, WA (United States)

The rate of glass production during vitrification in an all-electrical melter greatly impacts the cost and schedule of nuclear waste treatment and immobilization. The feed is charged to the melter on the top of the molten glass, where it forms a layer of reacting and melting material, called the cold cap. During the final stages of the batch-to-glass conversion process, gases evolved from reactions produce primary foam, the growth and collapse of which controls the glass production rate. The mathematical model of the cold cap was revised to include functional representation of primary foam behavior and to account for the dry cold cap surface. The melting rate is computed as a response to the dependence of the primary foam collapse temperature on the heating rate and melter operating conditions, including the effect of bubbling on the cold cap bottom and top surface temperatures. The simulation results are in good agreement with experimental data from laboratory-scale and pilot-scale melter studies. Lastly, the cold cap model will become part of the full three-dimensional mathematical model of the waste glass melter.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 1259504
• Report Number(s): INL/JOU--15-34746
• Journal Information: Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Journal Name: Journal of the American Ceramic Society Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 98; ISSN 0002-7820
• Publisher: American Ceramic SocietyCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English