Current Progress on the Use of Waste Energetic Materials as Fuel Supplements for Industrial Combustors

摘要

An alternative disposal technology for waste energetic materials which has demonstrated potential for future applications at military installations is the reuse of these materials as a supplemental fuel for industrial combustors. The Department of Defense, over time, has accumulated a significant stockpile of waste energetic materials which requires disposal. The current disposal options, incineration, open burning and open detonation, are either cost prohibitive or under environmental scrutiny. An alternative disposal technology which shows promise is the reutilization of these energetic material as a supplemental fuel. Initial studies have indicated that it is feasible and economical to utilize the energy content from explosives and propellants to supplement fuel oil in industrial boilers. Significant progress has been made on the development on the process to use explosives as a supplemental fuel. Previous pilot scale tests and initial tests from a pilot scale demonstration at Hawthorne Army Ammunition Plant, Hawthorne, Nevada, have clearly demonstrated that explosives fuel oil mixtures can be safely fired into a standard industrial boiler. A state-of-the-art pilot scale system was designed and constructed for solvating and mixing explosives with fuel oil and firing the resultant mixture into a boiler to generate steam. Future tests are scheduled to increase the quantity of explosives in the fuel mixture and obtain additional process design information for full scale implementation. A feasibility study and a hazard analysis to determine the propagation potential for propellant/fuel oil slurries has recently been completed. The current progress and background with emphasis on the safety aspects on the use of explosives and propellants as a supplemental fuel are described.