Sodium conversion experiments in the Inert Carrier Process demonstration plant

The purpose of the sodium treatment studies reported here was to evaluate the use of the Inert Carrier Process (ICP) for converting sodium metal to a stable disposal form. The ICP demonstration plant consists of a closed loop of silicone oil that is circulated through a reservoir called a disperser. Solid sodium particles were fed to the disperser and kept suspended in the silicone oil carrier by turbulence. The sodium did not react with the silicone oil carrier. The dispersion of sodium in silicone oil was fed to an in-line mixer (''jet'' mixer) where it was mixed with a reactant. Water was used as the reactant in most of the tests, generating sodium hydroxide and hydrogen as the initial products. Analysis of the final solid product from the reaction indicated that the sodium hydroxide initial product interacted with the silicone oil. Complete reaction of the sodium in the demonstration plant required at least a 6/1 molar ratio of water to sodium. Good separation of the product solution was difficult because of the small difference in density between the aqueous product phase and the organic carrier phase. Emulsification of the silicone oil-aqueous solution was minimized by applying heat to the separator. Foaming of the silicone oil in the separator occurred, aggravated by the evolution of hydrogen from the sodium conversion reaction. Bench-scale tests were conducted to analyze and resolve several problems encountered in the plant experiments, such as incomplete reaction in the jet mixer, poor separation of the product from the silicone oil, formation of an oil aqueous solution emulsion in the separator, and oil foaming in the separator. Solidification tests were carried out to immobilize the sodium conversion product by mixing it with various binders. The most satisfactory binder was EPON 828, an epoxy resin