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The Use of Combustion Process Modification to Capture Cesium from Combustion of Contaminated Biomass
Citation:
Lemieux, P., S. Lee, AND Bill Linak. The Use of Combustion Process Modification to Capture Cesium from Combustion of Contaminated Biomass. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-18/240, 2018.
Impact/Purpose:
A series of experiments was performed to investigate how well the use of in-furnace kaolinite sorbent injection captured cesium emissions from combustors, a process that worked very effectively in a natural-gas combustion system and worked in a biomass combustion system. The experiments were performed initially on a vertically-fired combustor firing two types of powderized biomass, then subsequently on a rotary kiln incinerator simulator firing pelletized biomass fed into the rotating drum section of the combustor.
Description:
In the aftermath of a wide-area radiological contamination incident in an urban setting, there is the potential for the generation of significant quantities of contaminated biomass waste. For example, the 2011 nuclear power plant accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan resulted in an estimated 7.8 million cubic meters of combustible waste, most of which was biomass. These wastes are likely candidates for incineration as a means of volume reduction, due to the costs associated with disposal of low-level radioactive waste. Cesium (Cs), an alkali metal element, is a radionuclide that might possibly be used in a radiological dispersal device (RDD) or may be the predominant long-term radionuclide contaminant from a nuclear power plant accident, and Cs presents problematic behavior in combustion systems due to its volatility and solubility in water. The objective of this research was to: Examine the behavior and transformations of biomass-bound Cs in an incinerator environment; and Determine whether combustion modifications, including sorbent injection into the post-combustion zone of practical incinerators and combustors, could be used to convert biomass-bound Cs into easily collected forms.