Waste streams Laboratory

D. W. HoWid.2cy, A Eiterature Survey Methodsfor the Removal of Iodine Spedafrom Off-Gas andEiquid Waste Streams of Nuclear Power and Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Plants, with Emphasis on Solid Sorbents, ORNL/TM-6350, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Term., 1979. 

The effectiveness of incineration has most commonly been estimated from the heating value of the fuel, a parameter that has little to do with the rate or mechanism of destraction. Alternative ways to assess the effectiveness of incineration destraction of various constituents of a hazardous waste stream have been proposed, such as assessment methods based on the kinetics of thermal decomposition of the constituents or on the susceptibility of individual constituents to free-radical attack. Laboratory studies of waste incineration have demonstrated that no single ranking procedure is appropriate for all incinerator conditions. For example, acceptably low levels of some test compounds, such as methylene chloride, have proved difficult to achieve because these compounds are formed in the flame from other chemical species. 

In general, the laboratory in a plant is mainly a quality control laboratory. It will consist of all the off-line equipment necessary to determine whether the product and raw materials meet the desired specifications, and whether all the waste streams meet the criteria set by local, federal, and state authorities. 

The most widespread biological application of three-phase fluidization at a commercial scale is in wastewater treatment. Several large scale applications exist for fermentation processes, as well, and, recently, applications in cell culture have been developed. Each of these areas have particular features that make three-phase fluidization particularly well-suited for them Wastewater Treatment. As can be seen in Tables 14a to 14d, numerous examples of the application of three-phase fluidization to waste-water treatment exist. Laboratory studies in the 1970 s were followed by large scale commercial units in the early 1980 s, with aerobic applications preceding anaerobic systems (Heijnen et al., 1989). The technique is well accepted as a viable tool for wastewater treatment for municipal sewage, food process waste streams, and other industrial effluents. Though pure cultures known to degrade a particular waste component are occasionally used (Sreekrishnan et al., 1991 Austermann-Haun et al., 1994 Lazarova et al., 1994), most applications use a mixed culture enriched from a similar waste stream or treatment facility or no inoculation at all (Sanz and Fdez-Polanco, 1990). 

The advent of the Loeb-Sourirajan asyimnetric membrane some twenty years ago gave birth to an industry now exceeding 200 million dollars in annual sales. Reverse osmosis (RO) and ultrafiltration (UP) were previously only laboratory curiosities. Today, there are many large membrane plants (up to 16 million gallons per day) in service for applications as diverse as desalinating seawater concentrating serum proteins, or the recovery of paint and other by-products from waste streams. 

A laboratory-scale study of aUcaline and condensate waste streams from a synthetic drug factory at Hyderabad demonstrated that an aerated lagoon is capable of treating the wastewater from this industry [14]. The BOD removal rate K of the system was found to be 0.18/day and 0.155/day based on the soluble and total BOD, respectively. Based on the laboratory studies, a flow sheet (Fig. 2) for the treatment of waste was developed and recommended to the factory. 

The BOD5 and flow of various types of waste streams generated from Abbott Laboratory (a typical pharmaceutical plant) are given in the following table. 

Laboratory procedures may need to be evaluated against the sampling techniques and materials involved in the toll. There may be new laboratory chemicals and hazards to be considered. This work may have been identified in the evaluation of special analytical techniques required for the process. A good practice is to ensure that the lab technicians have the necessary guidance and types of equipment on hand to monitor the process and waste streams accurately and safely. 

In Japan and die European countries mentioned, regulators are rewarded for eliminating waste streams and cleaning up pollution. Regulators contribute technical expertise. In some cases, research is conducted in government laboratories in an effort to solve a particular pollution problem. The emphasis is on cooperation, rather than adjudication. 

During laboratory studies, reaction chemistry is confirmed, waste streams are characterized, process variables are tested, pollution prevention options are identified, data are collected for the pilot plant and process design, and the potential impact of environmental regulations is determined. 

The laboratory-scale experimental setups are designed typically to conduct chemical reaction studies under a range of pressures, temperatures, densities, oxidant and organic concentrations, and residence times in several reactor configurations. In general, model compounds for simulating common pollutants in industrial waste streams are used in laboratory-scale experiments. 

To date, numerous model compounds simulating the pollutants in common waste streams have been studied under laboratory-scale conditions by many researchers to determine their reactivities and to understand the reaction mechanisms under supercritical water oxidation conditions. Among them, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methanol, methylene chloride, phenol, and chlorophenol have been extensively studied, including global rate expressions with reaction orders and activation energies [58-70] (SF Rice, personal communication, 1998). 

Ross et al. [10,88] conducted an extensive study on the conversion of several model compounds (e.g., parachlorophenol, dichlorobenzene, hexa-chlorobenzene, and tetrachlorobiphenyl) to simulate the waste streams containing PCBs, under supercritical conditions at 400°C and 3700 psi with sodium carbonate added as a promoter. In their study, no formation of dibenzofurans or dibenzo-p-dioxins was noted during the decomposition of the starting material, even at conversions as low as 50%. These results were confirmed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) in their laboratory-scale testing. 

In theory, the SCWO process can be operated under closed-system conditions with minimal exhaust release to the atmosphere. Therefore, during the laboratory-scale testing, post treatments are not required if the waste stream is treated under optimized conditions to completely oxidize the organic carbon to carbon dioxide. However, the effluent from the reactor should be treated under EPA guidelines for the waste (e.g., waste model compounds). 

Direct chemical agent destruction operations as well as indirect or peripheral operations all result in secondary waste. Indirect or peripheral operations critical to chemical agent disposal facilities include laboratory operations, operations associated with protection of personnel or the environment, and operations associated with maintenance of the facility. The links between direct and indirect process operations and secondary waste streams are described next. 

Table 16.5 lists the surrogate (simulated) waste streams that were part of this study. The ash stream represents radioactive waste from the inventory of US Department of Energy (DOE) facilities. The Delphi DETOX streams are secondary waste generated during destruction of organics from similar waste streams [57]. The soil represents the waste from Argonne National Laboratory s inventory that was included in a site treatment plan for actual treatment. 

The last five chapters of the book are devoted to major applications of CBPCs. Chapter 14 covers CBPC matrix composites that are finding commercial applications in the United States. Discussed in Chapter 15 are drilling cements developed mainly by the U.S. Department of Energy laboratories with industrial collaborations. Applications of CBPCs in the stabilization of hazardous and radioactive waste streams are discussed in Chapters 16 and 17. Finally, recent advances in CBPC bioceramics are covered in Chapter 18. Appendixes A, B, and C compile relevant thermodynamic and mineralogy data that were useful in writing the book. They serve as a ready reference to researchers who venture into further development of CBPCs. 

In this laboratory we have also studied the role of lanthanide ions in gypsum, CaS04 2H2O 214). This material plays an important role in industrial waste streams. It is important to know the impurities present. Only small amounts of lanthanide ions can be solved in the gypsum lattice. This lattice consists of CaS04 layers separated by H2O layers. The Ca ions are surrounded on one side by sulfate ions and on the other side by water molecules. 

Beryllium-10 Be-10 is an activation product of Be-9. It was identified in several mobile and solid waste streams but exceeded the GQ only in fuel channel components (FCC) at HNA due to the natural Be content of the Zr D-bar fuel component. Laboratories within Magnox Electric do not currently analyse waste for Be-10 therefore the Best Estimate activity in the Nirex... 

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