Second test of base hydrolysate decomposition in a 0.04 gallon per minute scale reactor [electronic resource].

Published: Washington, D.C. : United States. Dept. of Energy, 1994.
Oak Ridge, Tenn. : Distributed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Dept. of Energy.
Physical Description: 13 pages : digital, PDF file
Additional Creators: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, United States. Department of Energy, and United States. Department of Energy. Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Access Online

www.osti.gov

Availability

Finding items...

Restrictions on Access

Free-to-read Unrestricted online access

Summary

LLNL has built and operated a pilot plant for processing oil shale using recirculating hot solids. This pilot plant, was adapted in 1993 to demonstrate the feasibility of decomposing base hydrolysate, a mixture of sodium nitrite, sodium formate and other constituents. This material is the waste stream from the base hydrolysis process for destruction of energetic materials. In the Livermore process, the waste feed is thermally treated in a moving packed bed of ceramic spheres, where constituents in the waste decompose, in the presence of carbon dioxide, to form solid sodium carbonate and a suite of gases including: methane, carbon monoxide, oxygen, nitrogen oxides, ammonia and possibly molecular nitrogen. The ceramic spheres are circulated and heated, providing the energy required for thermal decomposition. The spheres provide a large surface area for evaporation and decomposition to occur, avoiding sticking and agglomeration of the waste. We performed a 2.5 hour test of the solids recirculation system, with continuous injection of approximately 0.04 gal/min of waste. Gasses from the packed bed reactor were directed through the lift pipe and water was not condensed. Potassium carbonate (0.356 M) was added to the hydrolysate prior to its introduction to the retort. Continuous on-line gas analysis was invaluable in tracking the progress of the experiment and quantifying the decomposition products. Analyses showed the primary solid product, collected in the lift exit cyclone, was indeed sodium carbonate, as expected. For the reactor condition studied in this test, N₂O was found to be the primary nitrogen bearing gas species. In the test, approximately equal quantities of ammonia and nitrogen bearing oxide gases were produced. Under proper conditions, this ammonia and NOₓ can be recombined downstream to form N₂ and O₂ as the primary effluent gases.

Report Numbers

E 1.99:ucrl-id--118676
ucrl-id--118676

Subject(s)

Other Subject(s)

Note

Published through SciTech Connect.
10/11/1994.
"ucrl-id--118676"
"DE95017036"
Coburn, T.T.; Watkins, B.E.; Thorsness, C.B.; Cena, R.J.

Funding Information

W-7405-ENG-48

View MARC record | catkey: 14656627