RESULTS OF TESTING TO DEMONSTRATE THE EQUIVALENCY OF FULL-SCALE PLASMA SYSTEM TO INCINERATION FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF HAZARDOUS WASTES

摘要

ATG Inc. (ATG) and Integrated Environmental Technology (IET), supported by Focus Environmental, jointly performed an Equivalency Test on a GASVIT? / PEM? system located within IET’s test facility in Richland, Washington. This test demonstrated that the destruction of organic constituents in feed material by GASVIT? / PEM? Systems is equivalent to incineration. The results of the Equivalency Test allowed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to declare GASVIT? / PEM? technology as equivalent in performance to incineration for the destruction of organics. The full-scale system described in the paper contains basic components that are identical in size and design to those in the commercial GASVIT? / PEM? unit permitted by the EPA and the State of Washington Department of Ecology for the treatment of mixed waste. Mixed waste contains both hazardous and radioactive constituents. The commercial system has been installed at ATG’s Mixed Waste Facility in Richland, Washington. The basic components include a proprietary and refractory-lined process chamber that contains plasma torches and joule heated electrodes, a high temperature solids filter, two scrubbers, a High-Efficiency Mist Eliminator (HEME), and a syngas converter. A flame-less thermal oxidizer will be used instead of a flare as the syngas converter in the commercial system. The GASVIT? / PEM? plasma system destroyed more than 99.99% of the hazardous organics in the feed. Non-volatile waste residues were incorporated into a leach resistant vitrified product. Emissions of particulates, chlorine, and dioxins and furans were significantly below limits imposed by the US EPA’s MACT (Maximum Achievable Control Technology) standards. As required by the regulatory agencies in ATG’s permit for the “Storage and Treatment of Mixed Waste and for Storage and Disposal of Mixed-Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Regulated Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Wastes,” ATG is currently conducting a demonstration test with the commercial unit. The commercial unit began operation in late 2000.