Plasma Arc Destruction of DoD Hazardous Waste

Abstract

Abstract : Naval Station Norfolk (NSN) is the world s largest naval installation and the home of the United States Atlantic Fleet. Activities at the installation generate approximately 3,000,000 lb (1,400,000 kg) of both hazardous and nonhazardous industrial waste annually. Significant components of the waste stream include used paint, cleaning rags, cleaning compounds, and other chemicals used in industrial operations. While the Navy has disposed of these wastes in accordance with environmental regulations, concern exists regarding continuing federal liability for the hazardous waste (HW) once it leaves the installation because the cost is significant. Packaging, off-site transfer, and landfill disposal by private firms under contract to the Navy cost well over $3 million annually. In the mid-1990s, NSN began exploring alternative methods to dispose of its HW in order to reduce costs and to limit federal liability for the waste after it left the base. At that time, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Washington, D.C., was conducting investigations into the application of thermal plasma technology for destroying simulated Navy shipboard waste. In 1995, NSN and NRL discussed the possible application of plasma arc technology for destroying the HW generated at the Naval Station. These discussions led to a jointly sponsored proposal to the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) to demonstrate and validate plasma arc technology as a viable method for treating HW generated at the Naval Station. The project was approved in the summer of 1995. Plasma arc technology, which utilizes the very high temperatures generated in thermal plasmas, was developed more than 25 years ago by the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) to simulate reentry temperatures and has been used for more than 20 years in the metallurgical processing industry. Since the late l980s, it has been investigated as an alternative to incineration for destroying hazardous materials.