Hydraulic and Clean-in-Place Evaluations for a 12.5-cm Annular Centrifugal Contactor at INL

Hydraulic and Clean-in-Place Evaluations for a 12.5 cm Annular Centrifugal Contactor at the INL Troy G. Garn, Dave H. Meikrantz, Nick R. Mann, Jack D. Law, Terry A. Todd Idaho National Laboratory Commercially available, Annular Centrifugal Contactors (ACC) are currently being evaluated for processing dissolved nuclear fuel solutions to selectively partition integrated elements using solvent extraction technologies. These evaluations include hydraulic and clean-in-place (CIP) testing of a commercially available 12.5 cm unit. Data from these evaluations is used to support design of future nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities. Hydraulic testing provides contactor throughput performance data on two-phase systems for a wide range of operating conditions. Hydraulic testing results on a simple two-phase oil and water system followed by a 30% Tributyl phosphate in N-dodecane/nitric acid pair are reported. Maximum total throughputs for this size contactor ranged from 20 to 32 liters per minute without significant other phase carryover. A relatively new contactor design enhancement providing Clean-in-Place capability for ACCs was also investigated. Spray nozzles installed into the central rotor shaft allow the rotor internals to be cleaned, offline. Testing of the solids capture of a diatomaceous earth/water slurry feed followed by CIP testing was performed. Solids capture efficiencies of >95% were observed for all tests and short cold water cleaning pulses proved successful at removing solids from the rotor.