Storage and Aging Effects on Spherical Resorcinol-Formaldehyde Resin Ion Exchange Performance

Bechtel National, Inc. (BNI) is evaluating the alternate Cs ion exchanger, spherical resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF), for use in the River Protection Project-Waste Treatment Plant (RPP-WTP).( ) Previous test activities with spherical RF indicate that it has adequate capacity, selectivity, and kinetics to perform in the plant according to the flowsheet needs. It appears to have better elution and hydraulic properties than the existing alternatives: ground-gel RF and SuperLig® 644 (SL 644).( ) To date, the spherical RF performance testing has been conducted on freshly manufactured resin (within ~2 months of manufacture). The ion exchange resins will be manufactured and shipped to the WTP up to 1 year before being used in the plant. Changes in the resin properties during storage could reduce the capacity of the resin to remove Cs from low-activity waste solutions. Active sites on organic SL-644 resin have been shown to degrade during storage (Arm et al. 2004). Additional testing was needed to study the effects of storage conditions and aging on spherical RF ion exchange performance. Variables that could have a significant impact on ion exchange resins during storage include storage temperature, medium, and time. Battelle—Pacific Northwest Division (PNWD) was contracted to test the effects of various storage conditions on spherical RF resin. Data obtained from the testing will be used by the WTP operations to provide direction for suitable storage conditions and manage the spherical RF resin stock. Storage test conditions included wet and dry resin configurations under nitrogen at three temperatures. Work was initially conducted under contract number 24590-101-TSA-W000-00004 satisfying the needs defined in Appendix C of the Research and Technology Plan( ) TSS A-219 to evaluate the impact of storage conditions on RF resin performance. In February 2007, the contract mechanism was switched to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) Operating Contract DE-AC05-76RL01830

Characterization, Leaching, and Filtration Testing for Tributyl Phosphate (TBP, Group 7) Actual Waste Sample Composites

.A testing program evaluating actual tank waste was developed in response to Task 4 from the M-12 External Flowsheet Review Team (EFRT) issue response plan. The bulk water-insoluble solid wastes that are anticipated to be delivered to the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) were identified according to type such that the actual waste testing could be targeted to the relevant categories. Eight broad waste groupings were defined. Samples available from the 222S archive were identified and obtained for testing. The actual waste-testing program included homogenizing the samples by group, characterizing the solids and aqueous phases, and performing parametric leaching tests. The tributyl phosphate sludge (TBP, Group 7) is the subject of this report. The Group 7 waste was anticipated to be high in phosphorus as well as aluminum in the form of gibbsite. Both are believed to exist in sufficient quantities in the Group 7 waste to address leaching behavior. Thus, the focus of the Group 7 testing was on the removal of both P and Al. The waste-type definition, archived sample conditions, homogenization activities, characterization (physical, chemical, radioisotope, and crystal habit), and caustic leaching behavior as functions of time, temperature, and hydroxide concentration are discussed in this report. Testing was conducted according to TP-RPP-WTP-467

Characterization, Leaching, and Filtrations Testing of Ferrocyanide Tank sludge (Group 8) Actual Waste Composite

This is the final report in a series of eight reports defining characterization, leach, and filtration testing of a wide variety of Hanford tank waste sludges. The information generated from this series is intended to supplement the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) project understanding of actual waste behaviors associated with tank waste sludge processing through the pretreatment portion of the WTP. The work described in this report presents information on a high-iron waste form, specifically the ferrocyanide tank waste sludge. Iron hydroxide has been shown to pose technical challenges during filtration processing; the ferrocyanide tank waste sludge represented a good source of the high-iron matrix to test the filtration processing

Laboratory Demonstration of the Pretreatment Process with Caustic and Oxidative Leaching Using Actual Hanford Tank Waste

This report describes the bench-scale pretreatment processing of actual tank waste materials through the entire baseline WTP pretreatment flowsheet in an effort to demonstrate the efficacy of the defined leaching processes on actual Hanford tank waste sludge and the potential impacts on downstream pretreatment processing. The test material was a combination of reduction oxidation (REDOX) tank waste composited materials containing aluminum primarily in the form of boehmite and dissolved S saltcake containing Cr(III)-rich entrained solids. The pretreatment processing steps tested included • caustic leaching for Al removal • solids crossflow filtration through the cell unit filter (CUF) • stepwise solids washing using decreasing concentrations of sodium hydroxide with filtration through the CUF • oxidative leaching using sodium permanganate for removing Cr • solids filtration with the CUF • follow-on solids washing and filtration through the CUF • ion exchange processing for Cs removal • evaporation processing of waste stream recycle for volume reduction • combination of the evaporated product with dissolved saltcake. The effectiveness of each process step was evaluated by following the mass balance of key components (such as Al, B, Cd, Cr, Pu, Ni, Mn, and Fe), demonstrating component (Al, Cr, Cs) removal, demonstrating filterability by evaluating filter flux rates under various processing conditions (transmembrane pressure, crossflow velocities, wt% undissolved solids, and PSD) and filter fouling, and identifying potential issues for WTP. The filterability was reported separately (Shimskey et al. 2008) and is not repeated herein

Characterization and Leach Testing for PUREX Cladding Waste Sludge (Group 3) and REDOX Cladding Waste Sludge (Group 4) Actual Waste Sample Composites

A testing program evaluating actual tank waste was developed in response to Task 4 from the M-12 External Flowsheet Review Team (EFRT) issue response plan.(a) The testing program was subdivided into logical increments. The bulk water-insoluble solid wastes that are anticipated to be delivered to the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) were identified according to type such that the actual waste testing could be targeted to the relevant categories. Eight broad waste groupings were defined. Samples available from the 222S archive were identified and obtained for testing. The actual wastetesting program included homogenizing the samples by group, characterizing the solids and aqueous phases, and performing parametric leaching tests. Two of the eight defined groups—plutonium-uranium extraction (PUREX) cladding waste sludge (Group 3, or CWP) and reduction-oxidation (REDOX) cladding waste sludge (Group 4, or CWR)—are the subjects of this report. Both the Group 3 and 4 waste composites were anticipated to be high in gibbsite, requiring caustic leaching. Characterization of the composite Group 3 and Group 4 waste samples confirmed them to be high in gibbsite. The focus of the Group 3 and 4 testing was on determining the behavior of gibbsite during caustic leaching. The waste-type definition, archived sample conditions, homogenization activities, characterization (physical, chemical, radioisotope, and crystal habit), and caustic leaching behavior as functions of time, temperature, and hydroxide concentration are discussed in this report. Testing was conducted according to TP-RPP-WTP-467

Characterization, Leaching, and Filtration Testing for Bismuth Phosphate Sludge (Group 1) and Bismuth Phosphate Saltcake (Group 2) Actual Waste Sample Composites

A testing program evaluating actual tank waste was developed in response to Task 4 from the M-12 External Flowsheet Review Team (EFRT) issue response plan.() The test program was subdivided into logical increments. The bulk water-insoluble solid wastes that are anticipated to be delivered to the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) were identified according to type such that the actual waste testing could be targeted to the relevant categories. Eight broad waste groupings were defined. Samples available from the 222S archive were identified and obtained for testing. The actual waste-testing program included homogenizing the samples by group, characterizing the solids and aqueous phases, and performing parametric leaching tests. Two of the eight defined groups—bismuth phosphate sludge (Group 1) and bismuth phosphate saltcake (Group 2)—are the subjects of this report. The Group 1 waste was anticipated to be high in phosphorus and was implicitly assumed to be present as BiPO4 (however, results presented here indicate that the phosphate in Group 1 is actually present as amorphous iron(III) phosphate). The Group 2 waste was also anticipated to be high in phosphorus, but because of the relatively low bismuth content and higher aluminum content, it was anticipated that the Group 2 waste would contain a mixture of gibbsite, sodium phosphate, and aluminum phosphate. Thus, the focus of the Group 1 testing was on determining the behavior of P removal during caustic leaching, and the focus of the Group 2 testing was on the removal of both P and Al. The waste-type definition, archived sample conditions, homogenization activities, characterization (physical, chemical, radioisotope, and crystal habit), and caustic leaching behavior as functions of time, temperature, and hydroxide concentration are discussed in this report. Testing was conducted according to TP-RPP-WTP-467

Characterization and Leach Testing for REDOX Sludge and S-Saltcake Actual Waste Sample Composites

This report describes processing and analysis results of boehmite waste type (Group 5) and insoluble high Cr waste type (Group 6). The sample selection, compositing, subdivision, physical and chemical characterization are described. Extensive batch leach testing was conducted to define kinetics and leach factors of selected analytes as functions of NaOH concentration and temperature. Testing supports issue M-12 resolution for the Waste Treatment Plant

Characterization Data Package for Containerized Sludge Samples Collected from Engineered Container SCS-CON-210

This data package contains the K Basin sludge characterization results obtained by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory during processing and analysis of four sludge core samples collected from Engineered Container SCS-CON-210 in 2010 as requested by CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company. Sample processing requirements, analytes of interest, detection limits, and quality control sample requirements are defined in the KBC-33786, Rev. 2. The core processing scope included reconstitution of a sludge core sample distributed among four to six 4-L polypropylene bottles into a single container. The reconstituted core sample was then mixed and subsampled to support a variety of characterization activities. Additional core sludge subsamples were combined to prepare a container composite. The container composite was fractionated by wet sieving through a 2,000 micron mesh and a 500-micron mesh sieve. Each sieve fraction was sampled to support a suite of analyses. The core composite analysis scope included density determination, radioisotope analysis, and metals analysis, including the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Hazardous Waste Facility Permit metals (with the exception of mercury). The container composite analysis included most of the core composite analysis scope plus particle size distribution, particle density, rheology, and crystalline phase identification. A summary of the received samples, core sample reconstitution and subsampling activities, container composite preparation and subsampling activities, physical properties, and analytical results are presented. Supporting data and documentation are provided in the appendices. There were no cases of sample or data loss and all of the available samples and data are reported as required by the Quality Assurance Project Plan/Sampling and Analysis Plan