TESTING OF A ROTARY MICROFILTER TO SUPPORT HANFORD APPLICATIONS
Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) researchers are investigating and developing a rotary microfilter for solid-liquid separation applications at the Savannah River Site (SRS). Because of the success of that work, the Hanford Site is evaluating the use of the rotary microfilter for its Supplemental Pretreatment process. The authors performed rotary filter testing with a full-scale, 25-disk unit with 0.5 {micro} filter media manufactured by Pall Corporation using a Hanford AN-105 simulant at solids loadings of 0.06, 0.29, and 1.29 wt%. The conclusions from this testing are: (1) The filter flux at 0.06 wt% solids reached a near constant value at an average of 0.26 gpm/ft{sup 2} (6.25 gpm total). (2) The filter flux at 0.29 wt% solids reached a near constant value at an average of 0.17 gpm/ft{sup 2} (4 gpm total). (3) The filter flux at 1.29 wt% solids reached a near constant value at an average of 0.10 gpm/ft{sup 2} (2.4 gpm total). (4) Because of differences in solids loadings, a direct comparison between crossflow filter flux and rotary filter flux is not possible. The data show the rotary filter produces a higher flux than the crossflow filter, but the improvement is not as large as seen in previous testing. (5) Filtrate turbidity measured < 4 NTU in all samples collected. (6) During production, the filter should be rinsed with filtrate or dilute caustic and drained prior to an extended shutdown to prevent the formation of a layer of settled solids on top of the filter disks. (7) Inspection of the seal faces after {approx} 140 hours of operation showed an expected amount of initial wear, no passing of process fluid through the seal faces, and very little change in the air channeling grooves on the stationary face. (8) Some polishing was observed at the bottom of the shaft bushing. The authors recommend improving the shaft bushing by holding it in place with a locking ring and incorporated grooves to provide additional cooling. (9) The authors recommend that CH2MHill Hanford test other pore size media to determine the optimum pore size for Hanford waste.
- Research Organization:
- Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC09-08SR22470
- OSTI ID:
- 936319
- Report Number(s):
- WSRC-STI-2008-00339; TRN: US0805510
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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