Analysis of Engineering Design Studies for Demilitarization of Assembled Chemical Weapons at Blue Grass Army Depot (2002) / Chapter Skim
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5 General Atomics Technology Package
5 General Atomics Technology Package
Pages 99-126
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From page 99... ...
filters; and miscellaneous plant wastes. The following discussion of the GATS process is based on Figure 5-1, which identifies the steps of the 99 GATS process designed for a facility at Blue Grass Army Depot (General Atomics, 2001a)
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From page 100... ...
100 CD IIJ o O: 6 cn IIJ C: O CL N CL Y (6)
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From page 101... ...
and separately processed through the SCWO reactors of the energetics hydrolysis system. Hydrolysis of Energetic Materials In Step 5, energetic materials and associated metal parts from the PMD machine and RSM operations are sent to the ERH, a long, steamjacketed rotating cylinder with internal spiral flights and lifting flights where the hydrolysis of energetics begins.
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From page 102... ...
Because the sodium hydroxide dissolves any aluminum present in the munitions, converting it to aluminum hydroxide, the aluminum hydroxide is prevented from clogging downstream components by neutralizing the completely reacted hydrolysate with hydrochloric or sulfuric acid, causing the dissolved aluminum to form a precipitate, which is then filtered (Step 74. The hydrolysate is sent to holding tanks to await secondary treatment in the SCWO reactors.
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From page 103... ...
Cryotracture of Munitions Step 6 of the GATS process is the projectile agent removal system. After the energetic materials and associated metal parts have been removed and sent to the ERH, the agent cavity of the munition body is accessed by a cryofracture process.
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From page 104... ...
The liquid, which dissolves the frozen agent Dunnage Hydropulping In Step 9 of the GATS process, the dry, size-reduced dunnage materials and nonprocess wastes from Step 2 are slurried with energetics hydrolysate in preparation for feeding to one of the SCWO reactors. Following the removal of precipitated aluminum compounds by filtration in Step 7, the energetics hydrolysate is transferred to one of two hydropulpers.
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From page 105... ...
The final GATS design for Blue Grass includes five SCWO reactors (General Atomics, 2001a)
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From page 106... ...
The GATS design calls for five SCWO reactors. Three of the SCWO units are dedicated to processing the energetics hydrolysate slurry and two to processing agent hydrolysate.
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From page 107... ...
Offgases from the HDCs in Steps 13 and 16 are passed through the respective gas treatment systems of the ERH or PRH before being discharged to the plant ventilation system. Water Recovery and Salt Disposal In Step 14, the brine from the four SCWO reactors is concentrated using evaporation/crystallization equipment to reclaim the water and generate solid salt cake for off-site disposal.
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From page 108... ...
. The GATS process is designed to process the stockpile of chemical munitions stored at Blue Grass Army Depot (shown in Table 1-3~.
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From page 109... ...
. The GATS process design is sized on the assumption that a Blue Grass facility overall will only be operating productively 38 percent of the time, i.e., 38 percent availability.
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From page 110... ...
The committee concentrated its efforts on evaluating the following critical components of the GATS process design that had been identified as potential concerns in earlier NRC reports (NRC, 1999, 2000a, 2001d) : the long-term reliability of the SCWO system the advantages and disadvantages of cryofracture over baseline technology as a means of accessing the agent in the munitions the ability of the rotary hydrolyzers (both the PRH and the ERH)
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From page 111... ...
The Demo I tests with the SCWO reactor, conducted on HD hydrolysate simulant in a reactor with a platinum corrosion liner, showed corrosion rates as high as 10 mils per day. The tests also showed that titanium might be suitable as an alternative sacrificial liner for this application.
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From page 112... ...
· The removable SCWO reactor liner system developed for use at a Blue Grass facility (the leftmost liner of Figure 5-2) appears to have performed well with energetics hydrolysates and HD agent hydrolysates.
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From page 113... ...
Pulva engineers specified the appropriate operating conditions to reduce rough-granulated DPE suit material to less than 1 mm at a process rate of 70 lb/hr. EDS testing for micronization of granulated activated carbon was completed at Bematek Systems facilities in Beverly, Massachusetts.
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From page 114... ...
Hydrolysis of Energetic Materials (Steps 5, 7, and 15} Energetics Rotary Hydro/yzer Step 5, the ERH, is unique to the GATS process. To the best of the committee's knowledge, a system such as this has never been used to hydrolyze solid energetic materials.
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From page 115... ...
Step 2 of the GATS process is the separation, shredding, and grinding of the dunnage and other nonprocess waste until all solid material is reduced to granules less than 1 mm in size. These powdered solids are then mixed with energetics hydrolysate and other liquid wastes in a hydropulper to create a slurry to feed to the SCWO reactor.
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From page 116... ...
The corrosion of the reactor walls (as exemplified in Table 5-8) further complicates the solids problem be5Some of these salts would dissolve under "high pressure" supercr~tical conditions, but these conditions require pressures that are substantially above those of the SCWO reactors of the GATS design.
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From page 117... ...
This shorter projected life and the extra SCWO reactor provide additional margins of safety in the overall design. The General Atomics EDP for Blue Grass addressed the uncertainty surrounding SCWO liner life in two ways.
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From page 118... ...
Component Integration In Step 14 of the GATS process, the brine from the SCWO reactors is concentrated for water recovery and generating a solid salt cake for off-site disposal. Although the EDP did not include specific design parameters for this unit operation, it is existing technology, and assuming that the SCWO reactor produces an effluent with the very low organic content called for in design specifications, appropriate concentration/crystallization equipment is commercially available.
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From page 119... ...
The size and number of the rest of the General Atomics process equipment is designed to match the throughput of the PMD operation. For example, two SCWO reactors are used to treat the downstream agent hydrolysate, and two more SCWO units are used to treat the micronized dunnage and energetics hydrolysate waste stream.
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From page 120... ...
involving the oxygen feed line caused a release of oxygen through the relief valve, which caused a grass fire from melting metal components of the relief valve.6 The fire was attributed to removal of the high-pressure and high-high-pressure shutdowns from the pump circuit control and the use of stainless steel rather than Monet metal for the pressure relief valve. Based on these incidents, the committee inferred that the General Atomics SCWO system would continue to be vulnerable to fires if pure oxygen and nitrogen were used to produce synthetic air for the SCWO reactors.
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From page 121... ...
and diluted with water to produce the required weaker solutions. This corrosive caustic is handled safely in similar quantities and concentrations throughout the chemical industry and should not be unusually hazardous in the GATS process.
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From page 122... ...
(ppm) <1/<1 <1/<1 <1/<1 5.2/0.2 Not analyzed Dioxins/furans 200 times below EPA Not analyzed 72 times below EPA Not analyzed Not analyzed MACT standard MACT standard NOTE: HD, HD hydrolysate; TD, tetrytol hydrolysate slurried with shredded and micronized dunnage (palettes, DPE suits, gloves, etch; MD, M-28 rocket propellant and burster hydrolysates slurried with shredded and micronized dunnage that has had the hydrolyzed aluminum removed by filtration; GB, GB hydrolysate; VX, VX hydrolysate.
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From page 123... ...
In conclusion, · The GATS process meets the whole-plant availability requirement of 38 percent. Readily available, inexpensive titanium grade 2 is a suitable SCWO reactor liner material for TD and MD, and with the addition of a titanium wear liner, as shown in Figure 5-2, it is suitable for processing GB and HD.
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From page 124... ...
· Develop and test a full-scale SCWO reactor system to verify performance parameters, including preventive maintenance operations. · Develop and test other SCWO liners to further reduce liner preventive maintenance requirements.
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From page 125... ...
The testing that has been conducted has shown that the General Atomics SCWO system is a high-maintenance operation; however, the level of maintenance that is required for the application of the SCWO system in particular, and the GATS process in general, in a Blue Grass facility is not beyond the ability of well-trained operators and maintenance personnel. Finding (Blue Grass)
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From page 126... ...
GA-2. The technology provider should consider that the ERH and PRH units for a full-scale GATS process at Blue Grass be batch units similar in design to those tested.
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