Hillary, JM
1994
Interactions of Toxic and Radioactive Metals During Thermal Treatment of Mixed Wastes
Barton, R.G.; Lighty, J.S. and Hillary, J.M.
Proceedings of the 13th International Incineration Conference, Houston, TX, May 1994.
The Idaho National Engineering Laboratory has many wastes that are candidates for thermal treatment. Some of these wastes are soils contaminated with toxic and radioactive metals. The objective of this effort was to learn more about the behavior of the metals present in wastes during thermal treatment processes. All tests were conducted using a bench-scale rotary reactor system. The system minimizes the impact of external mass and heat transfer processes and allows the study of processes intrinsic to the waste. Thus, the data generated are not specific to any single treatment device and can be easily scaled. Three groups of metals can be identified based on the behavior observed in this test program: Group 1 Lead, cadmium, and cesium; Group 2 Gadolinium, samarium, neodymium, and cerium; and Group 3 Zinc.
Group 1 metals vaporize slightly at 925ºC when no chlorine is present. Vaporization increases dramatically in the presence of chlorine. Group 2 metals also appear to vaporize slightly at 925ºC. However, their behavior did not change with the addition of chlorine. The Group 3 metal was not affected by any of the test conditions.
1993
Investigation of Incineration Characteistics of Waste Water Treatment Plant Sludge
McClennen, W.H.; Lighty, J.S.; Summit, G.D.; Gallagher, B. and Hillary, J.M.
Combustion Science & Technology, 1993 (in press). (Presented at the Third International Congress on Toxic Combustion Byproducts, Cambridge, MA, June 1993.) Funded by Kodak, Presidential Young Investigators and ACERC.
Incineration is an important disposal method for the large volumes of sludge produced by industrial and municipal wastewater treatment. This paper describes analytical methods developed for examining industrial sludge incineration processes and the dependence of potential products of incomplete combustion (PICs) on the sludge composition. A surrogate sludge was developed from peat, calcium and iron salts, and a waste water-treatment polymer suspension to simulate incineration characteristics of the real sludge while allowing for controlled variation of its composition. Experiments were conduced under both oxidative and pyrolysis conditions, in reactor systems ranging from microscale up to bench scale with on-line analytical instrumentation. The organic products emitted from the surrogate were quite similar to those of the sludge, with the exception of products from certain synthetic polymers. Significant quantities of aromatic hydrocarbons were emitted from the combustion of cellulosic and lignin fractions of the material even without the presence of those specific compounds in the original waste. The presence of the metal salts and the additional water they retained significantly affected the peak hydrocarbon concentration by delaying the onset of emissions and lengthening their duration. The amount of polystyrene and polymethylmethacrylate in the real sludge made their decomposition products important potential PICs, which would need further combustion.
Hillary, JM
1994
Interactions of Toxic and Radioactive Metals During Thermal Treatment of Mixed Wastes
Barton, R.G.; Lighty, J.S. and Hillary, J.M.
Proceedings of the 13th International Incineration Conference, Houston, TX, May 1994.
The Idaho National Engineering Laboratory has many wastes that are candidates for thermal treatment. Some of these wastes are soils contaminated with toxic and radioactive metals. The objective of this effort was to learn more about the behavior of the metals present in wastes during thermal treatment processes. All tests were conducted using a bench-scale rotary reactor system. The system minimizes the impact of external mass and heat transfer processes and allows the study of processes intrinsic to the waste. Thus, the data generated are not specific to any single treatment device and can be easily scaled. Three groups of metals can be identified based on the behavior observed in this test program: Group 1 Lead, cadmium, and cesium; Group 2 Gadolinium, samarium, neodymium, and cerium; and Group 3 Zinc.
Group 1 metals vaporize slightly at 925ºC when no chlorine is present. Vaporization increases dramatically in the presence of chlorine. Group 2 metals also appear to vaporize slightly at 925ºC. However, their behavior did not change with the addition of chlorine. The Group 3 metal was not affected by any of the test conditions.
1993
Investigation of Incineration Characteistics of Waste Water Treatment Plant Sludge
McClennen, W.H.; Lighty, J.S.; Summit, G.D.; Gallagher, B. and Hillary, J.M.
Combustion Science & Technology, 1993 (in press). (Presented at the Third International Congress on Toxic Combustion Byproducts, Cambridge, MA, June 1993.) Funded by Kodak, Presidential Young Investigators and ACERC.
Incineration is an important disposal method for the large volumes of sludge produced by industrial and municipal wastewater treatment. This paper describes analytical methods developed for examining industrial sludge incineration processes and the dependence of potential products of incomplete combustion (PICs) on the sludge composition. A surrogate sludge was developed from peat, calcium and iron salts, and a waste water-treatment polymer suspension to simulate incineration characteristics of the real sludge while allowing for controlled variation of its composition. Experiments were conduced under both oxidative and pyrolysis conditions, in reactor systems ranging from microscale up to bench scale with on-line analytical instrumentation. The organic products emitted from the surrogate were quite similar to those of the sludge, with the exception of products from certain synthetic polymers. Significant quantities of aromatic hydrocarbons were emitted from the combustion of cellulosic and lignin fractions of the material even without the presence of those specific compounds in the original waste. The presence of the metal salts and the additional water they retained significantly affected the peak hydrocarbon concentration by delaying the onset of emissions and lengthening their duration. The amount of polystyrene and polymethylmethacrylate in the real sludge made their decomposition products important potential PICs, which would need further combustion.