Technical area status report for chemical/physical treatment

The Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (EM) was established by the Department of Energy (DOE) to direct and coordinate waste management and site remediation programs and activities throughout the DOE Complex. The Mixed Waste Integrated Program (MWIP) was created by the DOE Office of Technology Development (OTD) to develop, deploy, and complete appropriate technologies for the treatment of an DOE low-level mixed waste (LLMW). The MWIP mission includes development of strategies related to enhanced waste form production, improvements to and testing of the EM-30 baseline flowsheet for mixed waste treatment, programmatic oversight for ongoing technical projects, and specific technical tasks related to the site specific Federal Facilities Compliance Agreement (FFCA). The MWIP has established five Technical Support Groups (TSGs) based on primary functional areas of the Mixed Waste Treatment Plant) identified by EM-30. These TSGs are: (1) Front-End Waste Handling, (2) Chemical/Physical Treatment, (3) Waste Destruction and Stabilization, (4) Second-stage Destruction and Offgas Treatment, and (5) Final Waste Forms. The focus of this document is the Chemical/Physical Treatment System (CPTS). The CPTS performs the required pretreatment and/or separations on the waste streams passing through the system for discharge to the environment or efficient downstream processing. Downstream processing can include all system components except Front-End Waste Handling. The primary separations to be considered by the CPTS are: (1) removal of suspended and dissolved solids from aqueous and liquid organic streams, (2) separation of water from organic liquids, (3) treatment of wet and dry solids, including separation into constituents as required, for subsequent thermal treatment and final form processing, (4) mercury removal and control, and (5) decontamination of equipment and waste classified as debris