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APPLICATION OF ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGIES TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE U.S. CHEMICAL WEAPONS 196 STOCKPILE Mineralization of gas streams. Waste gas streams from the destruction process could be greatly reduced by use of pure oxygen and capture of CO2 and other acidic gases (such as HCl, HF, and SO2) by reaction with lime. All gas, except for excess oxygen and nitrogen from energetics and air leakage, would be converted to waste solids. The relatively small amount of remaining gas could be stored and tested, or purified by activated-carbon adsorption. Use of pure oxygen in combustion would require the redesign of fuel and oxidant injection and mixing components to avoid unduly high temperatures. These designs are available but have not been extensively used.1 Their demonstration will be required, which could add to the time before system installation and use. Liquid Wastes Water is formed by agent oxidation and is used in the pollution abatement system, in decontamination fluid, and as a solvent in some alternative agent destruction processes. Design for zero liquid water discharge is increasingly being adopted for industrial plants that work with hazardous chemicals. It is the current practice for the baseline technology, where water discharge as vapor in the flue gas makes liquid water recycling unnecessary. Storage of waste gas streams would reduce the water vapor content of the waste gas, so that some reuse of water within the plant may be necessary. If this water enters the normal wastewater system, the wastewater will need to be processed to meet water quality standards. GOALS, STRATEGIES, AND SYSTEMS FOR CHEMICAL DEMILITARIZATION Program Goals In the committee's view, the following goals must be met by any system used for the demilitarization of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile: ⢠satisfy congressionally mandated and international treaty demilitarization and timing requirements; 1 Some of the processes reviewed in this report are designed for use with pure oxygen. The supercritical water oxidation process, for example, is designed to use pure oxygen, but it is still in the development stage.