Waste treatment systems

The equipment in treatment systems for solid, liquid and gaseous radioactive waste may contain radioactive material in high concentrations, and radiation protection from this material should be provided for site personnel. An estimate should be made of the expected radionuclide content in treated waste, and of the consequent maximum radiation level that can arise in each area of the waste treatment system. Consideration should be given to the sources that give rise to the highest radiation levels (such as ion exchange 

Requirements and recommendations on the management of radioactive waste before it is sent to a repository are established in IAEA Safety Requirements and Safety Guides [4-6]. 

The design should be such as to minimize the deposition of resins and evaporation concentrates in the piping and components of the waste treatment system, as well as their crystallization and deposition in tanks. 

The design of waste treatment systems should incorporate features to reduce the likelihood of leaks. Special attention should be paid to preventing the leakage of resin and concentrates from the tanks. Features should be incorporated to ensure that any leaks are promptly detected. In the tank rooms, either each tank should be surrounded by a bund wall that could retain a volume of fluid of the capacity of the tank, or the walls of each room should be readily decontaminable up to the height that would be flooded if the leak were not isolated. 

The design should be such that it is possible to carry out by remote control reverse flow flushing, washing, regeneration and change of resins. 

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As with safety, environmental considerations are usually left to a late stage in the design. However, like safety, early decisions often can lead to difficult environmental problems which later require complex solutions. Again, it is better to consider effluent problems as the design progresses in order to avoid complex waste treatment systems. 

One aspect of the basic equation describing biological treatment of waste that has not been referred to previously is that biomass appears on both sides of the equation. As was indicated above, the only reason that microorganisms function in waste-treatment systems is because it enables them to reproduce. Thus, the quantity of biomass in a waste-treatment system is higher after the treatment process than before it. 

Yourcompany. a nitric acid manufacturer, uses ammonia in a waste treatment system to neutralize an acidic wastewater stream containing nitric acid. The reaction of the ammonia and nitric acid produces an ammonium nitrate solution. Ammonium nitrate solution is a listed toxic substance, as are nitric acid and ammonia. Your facility otherwise uses ammonia as a reactant and manufactures ammonium nitrate solution as a byproduct. If the ammonium nitrate solution is produced in a quantity that exceeds the threshold (e.g., 25,000 pounds for 1989), the facility must report for ammonium nitrate solution. If more than 10,000 pounds of ammonia is added to the wastewater treatment system, then the facility must report (or ammonia. 

Information on the types of treatment systems and their treatment efficiencies is required to be entered in Part III, Section 7, of the reporting form. For air emission treatment systems, use code A for wastewater treatment systems use, code W and for solid waste treatment systems, use code S in column 1 of Section 7. Appendix B of the instructions for Form R provides treatment codes to be entered in column B of Section 7. 

Typically, the biological treatment system operates best when a waste stream is at a pH near 7. However, waste treatment systems can operate (with some exceptions) between pH values of 4 and 10. The... 

Waste treatment systems can function over a very wide temperature range, e.g., 5° to 60°C. However, there are three rather distinct ranges in which different groups of organisms function ... 

Most waste treatment systems operate in the mesophilic region. The expense of altering the temperature of wastes encountered in abnormally cold or warm environments indicates the desirability of developing organisms which are suited to extremes of ambient waste temperatures. 

Nutrients can be classified into three groups based on levels required in waste treatment systems. These are given in Table 9. The major nutrients can be identified from the generalized biomass formula (Ceo Hg2 O23 Ni2 P). The actual quantity needed depends on the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of the waste. The higher the BOD the greater the quantity of cells produced. The minor and trace nutrients are needed in small quantities and are given in terms of concentration because these are the levels needed in solution to force the small amount required inside the cell across the cell-wall membrane. 

As a first step in the selection process, the applicability of the various solidification/ stabilization processes for specific contaminants can be determined using Table 12. Since these waste treatment systems vary widely in their applicability, cost, and pretreatment requirements, many are limited as to the types of waste that can be economically processed. Waste characteristics such as organic content, inorganic content, viscosity and... 

Development work has been carried out on processes to produce feed from starch effluents in non-aseptic waste treatment systems (such as oxidation ditches and aeration ponds) using amylolytic filamentous fungi. These often belonging to the genera Aspergillus and Rhizopus. In such processes, the levels of contaminating bacteria are depressed by operating the systems at low pH. 

Cold-pressed essential oils from the peel are some of the most important by-products recovered during the processing of Citrus fruits. The presence of limonene in the aqueous discharges, with its antimicrobial activity [1], decreases the effectiveness of the waste treatment system and increases the time necessary for the biological breakdown of the organic matter produced in the peel oil recovery system [2,3]. Additional recovery of essential oils from waste water would increase industry s returns and reduce the pollution problems associated with the disposal of waste water [4,5]. Several methods for reducing the levels of residual essential oils in the aqueous effluent have been developed over the years [6-11]. 

Results from experiments on biodegradation in which readily degraded substrates such as glucose are added have probably restricted relevance to natural ecosystems in which such substrates exist in negligible concentration. However, readily degraded substrates in addition to those less readily degradable undoubtedly occur in biological-waste-treatment systems. In these circumstances, at least three broadly different metabolic situations may exist ... 

To recondition the pots, the potliner is dug out and discarded Prior to discovery of the Spokane aquifer contamination, the procedure had been to remove the pot to an outdoor concrete slab where the pot was filled with water and allowed to soak for a few days to fracture and soften the cathode The contaminated water was presumably reused for soaking and not discharged to the industrial waste treatment system because of the cyanide content The pots were Jack-hammered and the potliner dumped on the slab The potliner was transfered by a front-end loader to an unprotected pile next to the slab ... 

Biological floes and films, which are present in waste treatment systems and in fermentations, are subject to potential oxygen limitation. 

The economics for this project are presented in comparison to the previous operating situation with essentially no waste treatment, and to estimated costs if a conventional precipitation and neutralization waste treatment system had been installed without modifying the manufacturing process itself. 

The approach taken for this project gave a major reduction in pollutants, including sludge, at a slight profit, whereas the isolated installation of a waste treatment system would have resulted in a major cost to the company. 

Initially the nickel-chromium plating process is designed to minimize the liquid loading to the waste treatment system. Counterflow rinsing, spray rinsing, and stagnant rinse recovery methods are employed in order to minimize the amount of wastes to be treated and allow as much treatment or retention time in the waste treatment system as is possible. 

It may flow directly to an onsite waste treatment system and then to a municipal wastewater treatment system or surface water. 

One technique used in a number of facilities that utilize molten salt for metal surface treatment prior to pickling is to take advantage of the alkaline values generated in the molten salt bath in treating other wastes generated in the plant. When the bath is determined to be spent, it is in many instances manifested, hauled off-site, and land disposed. One technique is to take the solidified spent molten salt (molten salt is sold at ambient temperatures) and circulate acidic wastes generated in the facility over the material prior to entry into the waste treatment system. This in effect neutralizes the acid wastes and eliminates the requirements of manifesting and land disposal. 

Kirkwood, E., Nalewajko, C., and Fulthorpe, R.R., Physiological characteristics of Cyanobacteria in pulp and paper waste treatment systems, J. Appl. Phycol. 15, 324-335, 2003. 

The recent and accelerating emphasis on water pollution control has necessitated the rapid development of improved biological waste treatment systems to aid in cost and energy savings. The use of... 

Waste pickle liquors from these operations can often be of use to sanitary waste treatment systems for phosphate control and sludge conditioning. Some industrial firms can use spent process waste from pickling operation. Iron in the waste is used as a coagulant in wastewater treatment systems.1415... 

The design of a waste treatment system requires data that was not available to me. A secondary system to reduce the biological oxygen demand and a tertiary system to at least remove most of the phosphates are required. Whether styrene is biodegradable was not known. If it is not, then the tertiary system will have to be designed to remove it also. 

No specific costs could be found for the cutter, Cu-201 an anchor-type agitator, Ag-301 an epoxy-lined tank, D-101 and the waste treatment system, WTS-801. Further, the F O B. costs of the sand filter, WTS-701, and the extruders, EXT-501, had to be calculated from the installed costs. 

The bugs, as the microorganisms are frequently called, can also get sick and die if they are not treated properly. They dislike rapid changes in types of food (organic compounds), pH, and temperature a pH below 6.5 or above 9.0, a salt concentration in excess of 5,000 mg/1 and the presence in any more than trace quantities (10 mg/1) of heavy metals.34 If they are killed, the only way to obtain a new group of residents for the waste-treatment system is to grow them, and this takes time. 

Are the materials easily dealt with in waste treatment systems ... 

The reduction in the numbers of incinerators and the limitations of autoclaves have created the need for alternative medical waste treatment systems. Currently, there are over 40 such technologies available from greater than 70 manufacturers within the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia. While these systems vary in their treatment capacity, the extent of automation, and overall volume reduction, all alternative technologies utilize one or more of the following methods (1) heating the waste to a minimum of 90 to 95°C by means of microwaves, radio waves, hot oil, hot water, steam, or superheated gases (2) exposing the waste to chemicals such as sodium hypochlorite (household bleach) or... 

For gas absorption, the water or other solvent must be treated to remove the captured pollutant from the solution. The effluent from the column may be recycled into the system and used again. This is usually the case if the solvent is costly (e.g., hydrocarbon oils, caustic solutions). Initially, the recycle stream may go to a waste treatment system to remove the pollutants or the reaction product. Make-up solvent may then... 

After polymerization, PET is processed to final products, distributed to consumers and eventually ends up in a waste treatment system. Manual sorting or various automated methods can be applied to separate the PET fraction from a waste stream [HI]. 

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