Effluents from Alternative Demilitarization Technologies

FRANCIS W. HOLM 30 Agua Sarca Road, Placitas, New Mexico 1. Overview The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) sponsored an Advanced Research in Prague, Czech Republic, on October 13-15, 1997, to collect and Workshop (ARW) study information on effluents from alternative demilitarization technologies and to report on these fmdings. The effluents, orprocess residues, identified for assessment at the workshop are generated by systems that have been proposed as alternatives to incineration technology for destruction of munitions, chemical warfare agent, and associated materials and debris. The alternative technologies analyzed are grouped into three categories based on process bulk operating temperature: low (0-200 C), medium (200-600 C), and high (600-3,500 C). Reaction types considered include hydrolysis, biodegradation, electrochemical oxidation, gas-phase high-temperature reduction, steam reforming, gasification, sulfur reactions, solvated electron chemistry, sodium reactions, supercritical water oxidation, wet air oxidation, and plasma torch technology. These ofprocesses, some of which have been studied categories represent a broad spectrum only in the laboratory and some of which are in commercial use for destruction of hazardous and toxic wastes. Some technologies have been developed and used for specific commercial applications; however, in all cases, research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) is necessary to assure that each technology application is effective for destroying chemical warfare materiel. Table 1 contains a list of more than 40 technologies from a recent report for the U.S. Army [1]. Many ofthe technologies in Table 1 are based on similar principles.

Inhalt

Preface; F.W. Holm. U.S. Chemical Stockpile Disposal Programme: The Search for Alternative Technologies; R.S. Magee. Mobile Demilitarization System Treatment Processes and Effluents; E.W. Libby, M.D. Chatfield. Hydrolysis and Oxidation Process Effluents of Some Chemical Warfare Agents and Possible Secondary Treatments; R. Soilleux. Pilot-Scale Base Hydrolysis Processing of HMX-Based Plastic-Bonded Explosives; R. Flesner, et al. Cleaning of Gaseous Products from Thermal Waste Treatment; J. Vehlow. Introduction of Green Plants for the Control of Metals and Organics in Environmental Remediation; T. Macek, et al. Removal of Arsenical By-Products from Chemical Warfare Destruction Effluents; T. Guenegou, et al. Effluents from Alternative Demilitarization Technologies: Products of Incomplete Reaction; W.G. May. Risk Assessment of the Potential Hazard Connected with the Objects of Storage of Warfare Chemical Agents: Kambarka, Kizner, and Shchuchye Arsenals; V.M. Kolodkin. Public Involvement: Matters for the People in Technology Applications; J.M. Espinosa. Appendix; F.W. Holm. Index.