Validation of DWPF Melter Off-Gas Combustion Model

The empirical melter off-gas combustion model currently used in the DWPF safety basis calculations is valid at melter vapor space temperatures above 570 degrees C, as measured in the thermowell. This lower temperature bound coincides with that of the off-gas data used as the basis of the model. In this study, the applicability of the empirical model in a wider temperature range was assessed using the off-gas data collected during two small-scale research melter runs. The first data set came from the Small Cylindrical Melter-2 run in 1985 with the sludge feed coupled with the precipitate hydrolysis product. The second data set came from the 774-A melter run in 1996 with the sludge-only feed prepared with the modified acid addition strategy during the feed pretreatment step. The results of the assessment showed that the data from these two melter runs agreed well with the existing model, and further provided the basis for extending the lower temperature bound of the model to the measured melter vapor space temperature of 445 degrees C