The DeHg Process for Treating Mercury Mixed Waste NEWMOA Breaking the Mercury Cycle: Long-Term Management of Surplus & Recycled Mercury And Mercury-Bearing Waste Boston, MA May 1-3, 2002 NUCLEAR FUEL SERVICES, INC.
Jan 03, 2016
The DeHg Processfor Treating
Mercury Mixed Waste
NEWMOABreaking the Mercury Cycle:Long-Term Management of Surplus & Recycled MercuryAnd Mercury-Bearing Waste
Boston, MAMay 1-3, 2002
NUCLEAR FUEL SERVICES, INC.
May 1-3, 2002 Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. 2
Outline of Presentation
• NFS Overview• Origin of NFS DeHg® Process• Application History• Process Overview• Summary
May 1-3, 2002 Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. 3
NFS Focus Areas
• Nuclear Fuel Production• High-Enriched Uranium Recovery/Conversion• Decommissioning and Decontamination (D&D)• Environmental Services• Process Development/Metals Recovery• Mercury Mixed Waste Treatability/Treatment
May 1-3, 2002 Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. 4
DeHg® (DEE-merc)
• Mercury Amalgamation/Stabilization Process• Developed 1991 for NFS Mercury Mixed Waste• Deployed 1995 for Hg Mixed Waste Treatment• Continuous Improvement Through Testing,
Demonstrations and Treatment, January 1995 - present• Performed at Ambient Temperature • Stabilizes Variety of RCRA Metals• Meets LDR/UTS
May 1-3, 2002 Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. 5
DeHg® Applications
• Wide Variety of Matrices Elemental Hg Soils & Sludges Aqueous & Organic Liq. Shreddable Debris Non-Shreddable Debris IX Resins Salts & Solidified Forms
• Various Chemical Species Oxide Chloride Iodide Cyanide Thiocyanate Organo (Ph-HgCl) Elemental
May 1-3, 2002 Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. 6
Experience Chart
PinellasFernaldUSEC
Radiopharmaceutical A,BLANL
ETTP (HgWG)INEEL (HgWG)Commercial Fuel
300 kg
Treatment,Treatability
Demonstrations1995 - present
Elemental Hg Soils/Sediments Debris
FernaldUSECLANL
Radiopharmaceutical ACommercial Fuel
Commercial D&D A
PORTS IX (HgWG)Speciation (HgWG)
Chlor-Alkali (2)BNL (HgWG)
Commercial D&D A
Aqueous, Organic, Oil
PinellasINEEL
VFL/LEFPC Wastewater
11,000 kg10,000 kg202,000 kg
May 1-3, 2002 Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. 7
Experience Summary
• Various Matrices, Generators and Chemical Forms• Nuclear and Chemical Industries• Permitted for Treatment
Tennessee, Washington & Utah (DET for >260ppm)
• Final Forms Disposed at Three (3) Sites LANL Chem Nuclear/Barnwell Envirocare of Utah
May 1-3, 2002 Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. 8
Mercury Species Stabilization - 260 ppmSoils
0.006
140.004
120.004
0.310.001
120.001
100.001
100.001
120.001
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
TCLP, mg/L
Sulfide
Chloride
Oxide
Elemental
Ph-Hg Cl
SCN
CN
Iodide
Ch
emic
al F
orm
Final
Initial
May 1-3, 2002 Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. 9
Hg and RCRA Metals StabilizationSpent Anion IX Resin
1.620.014
0.250.02
0.130.02
0.270.018
4.220.08
1.260.045
1.350.035
0 1 2 3 4 5TCLP, ppm
Ba
Cd
Cr
Hg
Ni
Zn
Cu
RC
RA
Met
als
WasteStabilized
Waste Feed
May 1-3, 2002 Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. 10
DeHg AmalgamationPharmaceutical Mercury with
TritiumMetal
TCLP mg/LFinal Waste Form
Arsenic <0.0006Barium 0.01Cadmium <0.0007Chromium 0.04Copper 0.007Lead 0.0005Mercury 0.001Nickel 0.002Selenium 0.009Silver <0.001Zinc 0.01
May 1-3, 2002 Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. 11
Soil Stabilization >260ppm
0.00060.005 0.006
0.0020.007
0.001
0.0102
0.0000.0050.0100.0150.0200.0250.0300.0350.0400.0450.050
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Batch Number
TC
LP
[H
g],
pp
m
UTS = 0.025 mg/L TCLP
May 1-3, 2002 Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. 12
DeHgDeployment Lifecycle
• CharacterizationForm, Contaminants, Size, Quantity
• TreatabilityFormulation and Processing Approach
• Treatment / Processing
• Certified Assays and Disposal
May 1-3, 2002 Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. 13
Testing Enclosure
May 1-3, 2002 Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. 14
Stabilization Reactor
May 1-3, 2002 Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. 15
Mercury Analyzer
May 1-3, 2002 Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. 16
DeHg Process Deployment
• Preprocessing (Off-The-Shelf Equipment) Shredders, Sprayers Ambient Temperature
• Processing (Off-The-Shelf Equipment) Ribbon Blenders, Pug Mills, Reaction Vessels, etc. Ambient Temperature
• Reagents Formulated and Applied Dry or Wet As Low as $50/ton
May 1-3, 2002 Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. 17
Approach
In-SituRemediation
Ex-SituRemediation
Elemental Hg (condensed)Solutions
PrecipitatesSecondary
Technology (ies)Soils
Elemental Hg (condensed)Raw Soil ResidualsSecondary
DeHg®Amalgamation/Stabilization
DeHg®Amalgamation/Stabilization
Vacuum Extraction, Direct Stabilization Thermal, Direct Stabilization
Matrices Matrices
Stream Treatment Stream Treatment
Profiling/Disposition Profiling/Disposition
May 1-3, 2002 Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. 18
Aging StudyVarious Mercury Waste Forms
• Initiated Program to Archive Treated Waste Forms for Long-Term Stability Study
• Elemental Hg Amalgam• Soil w/ >260 ppm Hg (MER03)• Debris w/ Elemental Hg (>260 ppm)• Surrogate Soil w/ >5,000 ppm Hg (MER04)
May 1-3, 2002 Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. 19
SummaryDeHg®
• Is an ambient temperature process • Deals effectively with a wide variety of matrices • Has been continuously improved to amalgamate DOE elemental Hg and
stabilize solid mixed wastes and other RCRA metals• Consistently achieves UTS• Gives DOE adaptable approach to remediate soils, sludges, DAW,
equipment, bulk elemental and other orphaned HgMW• Aging studies show excellent stability• Has been permitted for treatment at four (4) locations (three [3] States)
and has received a variance (DET) for >260ppm• Is an ongoing program of process improvement• Shows potential application in reducing coal-fired plant stack emissions