Waste minimization methods for treating analytical instrumentation effluents at the source

The primary goal of this project was to reduce the amount of hazardous waste being generated by the Savannah River Siste Defense Waste Processing Technology-analytical Laboratory (DWPT-AL). A detailed characterization study was performed on 12 of the liquid effluent streams generated within the DWPT-AL. Two of the streams were not hazardous, and are now being collected separately from the 10 hazardous streams. A secondary goal of the project was to develop in-line methods using primarily adsorption/ion exchange columns to treat liquid effluent as it emerges from the analytical instrument as a slow, dripping flow. Samples from the 10 hazardous streams were treated by adsorption in an experimental apparatus that resembled an in-line or at source column apparatus. The layered adsorbent bed contained activated carbon and ion exchange resin. The column technique did not work on the first three samples of the spectroscopy waste stream, but worked well on the next three samples which were treated in a different column. It was determined that an unusual form of mercury was present in the first three samples. Similarly, two samples of a combined waste stream were rendered nonhazardous, but the last two samples contained acetylnitrile that prevented analysis. The characteristics of these streams changed from the initial characterization study; therefore, continual, in-deptch stream characterization is the key to making this project successful