Mitigation of secondary phase formation during waste vitrification

• US 8,530,718 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2008
• Issued: 09/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Johnson Controls GmbH (Adient plc), P&t Global Solutions, LLC
• Original Assignee: Energysolutions LLC (Rockwell Holdco, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yamazaki, Akito, Endo, Yoshihiro, Shirato, Katsuyuki, Nakano, Kunihiko, Pegg, Ian L., Gan, Hao, Matlack, Keith, Bowan, Bradley W. II, Joseph, Innocent
• Primary Examiner(s): JOHNSON, EDWARD M
• Application Number:
  US12/677,490
• Publication Number:
  US 20100285945A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,821 Days
• Field of Search: 588/1, 588/2, 588/10, 588/11, 588/18, 588/252, 588/410, 588/412, 588/900, 588/901
• US Class Current: 588/11
• CPC Class Codes: B09B 3/29 involving a melting or softening step
• CPC Class Codes: C03B 1/00 Preparing the batches chemical compositions C03C
• CPC Class Codes: C03B 3/00 Charging the melting furnaces
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 1/002 Use of waste materials, e.g. slags
• CPC Class Codes: G21F 9/16 by fixation in stable solid media G21F9/305 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 40/50 Glass production, e.g. reusing waste heat during processing or shaping
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 40/57 Improving the yield, e-g- reduction of reject rates
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 588/901 Compositions

Abstract

A method for vitrification of high level waste to reduce the formation of persistent secondary phases comprising the steps of providing a high level waste for vitrification; providing a glass frit additive for mixing with said high level waste; redistributing selected constituents of said glass frit for mixing separately as raw chemicals with said high level waste; and, feeding said high level waste, said glass frit additive, and the redistributed glass frit constituents to a melter for vitrification of said high level waste so that formation of secondary phases is suppressed.

Claims

1. A method for vitrification of high level waste to reduce the formation of persistent secondary phases comprising the steps of:

providing a high level waste for vitrification;

providing a glass frit additive for mixing with said high level waste;

providing at least one glass frit constituent selected from the group consisting of Al₂O₃, B₂O₃, and SiO₂ separately from said glass frit additive for mixing with said high level waste; and

,

feeding said high level waste, said glass frit additive and said glass frit constituent to a melter to form a mixture for vitrification of said high level waste in which formation of secondary phases is suppressed.

2. The method of claim 1 including the step of providing said glass frit additive in the form selected from the group consisting of glass beads, cylindrical glass fiber cartridges, glass powder, and glass flakes.

3. The method of claim 1 including the step of redistributing selected components of said glass frit additive into individual glass frit constituents for mixing as raw chemicals with said high level waste separately from said glass frit additive.

4. The method of claim 1 including the step of redistributing all components of said glass frit additive into individual glass frit constituents for mixing as raw chemicals with said high level waste.

5. The method of claim 1 including the step of providing said glass frit additive having Al₂O₃, B₂O₃, and SiO₂, and redistributing at least a portion of at least one of said Al₂O₃, B₂O₃, and SiO₂ from said glass frit additive to provide at least one redistributed glass frit constituent for mixing separately as raw chemicals with said high level waste.

6. The method of claim 5 including the step of redistributing all of said Al₂O₃ and a portion of said B₂O₃ from said glass frit additive to individual glass frit constituents for mixing separately with said high level waste so that the removed Al₂O₃ and B₂O₃ totals approximately at least 7 wt % by weight of said mixture.

7. The method of claim 6 including the step of combining 15.81 wt % of said high level waste, 77.29 wt % of said glass frit additive, and 6.9 wt % of said Al₂O₃ and B₂O₃ for feeding to said melter.

8. The method of claim 5 including the step of redistributing all of said Al₂O₃ and a portion of said B₂O₃ and said SiO₂ from said glass frit additive to individual glass frit constituents for mixing separately with said high level waste so that the removed Al₂O₃ and B₂O₃ totals approximately 7 wt % and said SiO₂ totals approximately 7 wt % of said mixture.

9. The method of claim 8 including the step of combining 15.81 wt % of said high level waste, 70.56 wt % of said glass frit additive, 6.9 wt % of said redistributed Al₂O₃ and B₂O₃ and 6.73 wt % of said redistributed SiO₂ for feeding to said melter.

10. The method of claim 1 including the step of separately feeding said high level waste, said glass frit additive and said at least one glass frit constituent to said melter.

11. The method of claim 1 including the step of mixing said high level waste, said glass frit additive and said at least one glass frit constituent together and feeding the resulting mixture to said melter.

12. The method of claim 1 including the step of mixing said high level waste with said at least one glass frit constituent prior to feeding to said melter.

13. The method of claim 1 including the step of providing said high level waste, said glass frit additive, and said at least one glass frit constituent in powder form for feeding to said melter.

14. A composition made according to the method of claim 1 comprising about 15 wt % of said high level waste, about 70%-78 wt % of said glass frit additive, and about 7 wt %-15 wt % of said glass frit constituent selected from the group consisting of Al₂O₃, B₂O₃, and SiO₂ for feeding to a melter to form a borosilicate glass compound.

15. A method for vitrification of high level waste to reduce the formation of persistent secondary phases comprising the steps of:

providing about 15 wt % of a high level waste for vitrification;

providing about 85 wt % of a glass frit additive for mixing with said high level waste;

redistributing about 7 wt %-15 wt % of selected components of said glass frit additive for mixing separately as individual glass frit constituents with said high level waste; and

,

feeding said high level waste, said glass frit additive, and said individual glass frit constituents to a melter to form a mixture for vitrification of said high level waste in which formation of secondary phases is suppressed.

16. The method of claim 15 including the step of providing said glass frit additive having Al₂O₃, B₂O₃, and SiO₂, and redistributing at least a portion of at least one of said Al₂O₃, B₂O₃, and SiO₂ from said glass frit additive for mixing as said individual glass frit constituents with said high level waste.

17. The method of claim 16 including the step of redistributing all of said Al₂O₃ and a portion of said B₂O₃ from said glass frit additive to said individual glass frit constituents for mixing separately with said high level waste so that the removed Al₂O₃ and B₂O₃ totals approximately at least 7 wt % by weight of said mixture.

18. The method of claim 17 including the step of combining 15.81 wt % of said high level waste, 77.29 wt % of said glass frit additive, and 6.9 wt % of said Al₂O₃ and B₂O₃ for feeding to said melter.

19. The method of claim 16 including the step of redistributing all of said Al₂O₃ and a portion of said B₂O₃ and said SiO₂ from said glass frit additive to individual glass frit constituents for mixing separately with said high level waste so that the removed Al₂O₃ and B₂O₃ totals approximately 7 wt % and said SiO₂ totals approximately 7 wt % of said mixture.

20. The method of claim 19 including the step of combining 15.81 wt % of said high level waste, 70.56 wt % of said glass frit additive, 6.9 wt % of said Al₂O₃ and B₂O₃ and 6.73 wt % of said SiO₂ for feeding to said melter.

21. The method of claim 15 including the step of separately feeding said high level waste, said glass frit additive and said individual glass frit constituents to said melter.

22. The method of claim 15 including the step of mixing said high level waste, said glass frit additive and said individual glass frit constituents together and feeding the resulting mixture to said melter.

23. The method of claim 15 including the step of mixing said high level waste with said individual glass frit constituents prior to feeding to said melter.

24. The method of claim 15 including the step of providing said high level waste, said glass frit additive, and said individual glass frit constituents in powder form for feeding to said melter.

25. A composition made according to the method of claim 15 comprising about 15 wt % of said high level waste, about 70%-78 wt % of said glass frit additive, and about 7 wt %-15 wt % of said individual glass frit constituents selected from the group consisting of Al₂O₃, B₂O₃, and SiO₂ for feeding to a melter to form a borosilicate glass compound.

26. A method for vitrification of high level waste to reduce the formation of persistent secondary phases comprising the steps of:

providing a high level waste for vitrification;

providing a glass frit additive for mixing with said high level waste;

redistributing select amounts of individual glass frit constituents of said glass frit additive for mixing separately as raw chemicals with said high level waste; and

,

feeding said high level waste, said glass frit additive, and said individual glass frit constituents to a melter for vitrification of said high level waste so that formation of secondary phases is suppressed.

27. The method of claim 26 including the step of providing said glass frit additive having Al₂O₃, B₂O₃, and SiO₂, and redistributing at least a portion of at least one of said Al₂O₃, B₂O₃, and SiO₂ from said glass frit additive for mixing as said individual glass frit constituents with said high level waste.

28. The method of claim 27 including the step of combining 15.81 wt % of said high level waste, 77.29 wt % of said glass frit additive, and 6.9 wt % of said Al₂O₃ and B₂O₃ for feeding to said melter.

29. The method of claim 27 including the step of combining 15.81 wt % of said high level waste, 70.56 wt % of said glass frit additive, 6.9 wt % of said Al₂O₃ and B₂O₃ and 6.73 wt % of said SiO₂ for feeding to said melter.

30. A composition made according to the method of claim 26 comprising about 15 wt % of said high level waste, about 70%-78 wt % of said glass frit additive, and about 7 wt %-15 wt % of said individual glass frit constituents selected from the group consisting of Al₂O₃, B₂O₃, and SiO₂ for feeding to a melter to form a borosilicate glass compound.