The River Protection Project-Waste Treatment Plant (RPP-WTP) requested Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to conduct small-scale foaming and antifoam testing using a Hanford waste simulant subjected to air sparging during oxidative leaching. The foaminess of Hanford tank waste solutions was previously demonstrated by SRNL during WTP evaporator foaming studies and in small scale air sparger studies. The commercial antifoam, Dow Corning Q2-3183A was recommended to mitigate the foam in the evaporators and in vessel equipped with pulse jet mixers and air spargers. Currently, WTP is planning to use air spargers in the HLW Lag Storage Vessels (HLP-VSL-00027A/B), the Ultrafiltration Vessels (UFP-VSL-00002A&B), and the HLW Feed Blend Vessel (HLPVSL-00028) to assist the performance of the Pulse Jet Mixers (PJM). The previous air sparger antifoam studies conducted by SRNL researchers did not evaluate the hydrogen generation rate expected from antifoam additions or the effectiveness of the antifoam during caustic leaching or oxidative leaching. The fate of the various antifoam components and breakdown products in the WTP process under prototypic process conditions (temperature & radiation) was also not investigated. The effectiveness of the antifoam during caustic leaching, expected hydrogen generation rate associated with antifoam addition, and the fate of various antifoam components are being conducted under separate SRNL research tasks
