The Mixed Waste Focus Area (MWFA) has chartered the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) to design and fabricate a Transportable Vitrification System (TVS) to demonstrate treatment of Low-Level Mixed Waste (LLMW). This system will be used to demonstrate the feasibility of vitrification on several LLMW streams. The first stream to be demonstrated will be the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) K-25 B&C Pond sludge. Before the demonstrations in the TVS can take place, a surrogate sludge vitrification demonstration had to be performed in the EV-16 melter located at the DOE Industrial Center for Vitrification Research (Center) at the Environmental Systems Engineering Department at Clemson University. During the demonstration at the Center, a 50 wt% B&C sludge glass composition was tested to determine any processing problems. A total of 1510 pounds (686 kg) of glass were produced from 9328 pounds (4240 kg) of surrogate feed. The resulting glass product was homogeneous and very durable.

A series of experiments in which the stirrer speed was varied during a methanol synthesis run with BASF S3-86 catalyst showed that mass transfer limitations were present at 750 psig reactor pressure and at space velocities of 5000 and 10000 sl/kg(cat.)-hr.. There was no effect of stirrer speed on reaction rate at 2500 psig reactor pressure and 16500 sl/kg(cat.)-hr. space velocity. However, this was probably due to a close approach to equilibrium rather than to the lack of a mass transfer effect. The most plausible explanation for the presence of a mass transfer influence is the position of the gas feed dip tube relative to the agitator impeller. A second set of stirrer speed experiments using the same catalyst showed that feeding into the reactor headspace produced much lower reaction rates, compared with gas feed through a dip tube. The headspace feed also showed a strong dependence on stirrer speed, consistent with the dip tube feed results. In a ``blank` run at 375{degree}C with decahydronaphthalene, about 110 mL of the initial charge of 150 mL remained in the reactor after 73 hours of operation at 375{degree}C and 850 psig of hydrogen. The rate of hydrocarbon evolution was low throughout the …

A set of stirrer speed experiments using the Cu/ZnO methanol synthesis catalyst showed that introducing the gas feed into the reactor through an extended dip tube eliminated the dependency of catalyst performance on stirrer speed. The methanol productivity data from the reactor gas feed configuration tests conducted in December, 1994 and January, 1995, were correlated with stirrer speed. The influence on mass transfer on catalyst performance was clearly illustrated for each gas feed location. The ``high pressure, high temperature` zinc chromite methanol synthesis catalyst showed surprising activity at temperatures as low as 300{degree}C during the first successful stirred autoclave run with this catalyst. No C{sub 2{sup {plus}}} alcohols were detected, but significant levels of C{sub 2}-C{sub 4} olefins and dimethyl ether (DME) were produced. The presence of olefins suggests that higher alcohols might have formed and subsequently dehydrated. The slurry liquid, decahydronaphthalene, showed no evidence of decomposition during 15 days of continuous operation. 2 figs., 1 tab.