Shaw Environmental And The U.S. Army Select Zimpro® Wet Air Oxidation System To Destroy Neutralized Chemical Warfare Material

Unit is Under Construction for the Destruction of Material as Part of U.S. Army Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Project

Warrendale, PA - Shaw Environmental and the U.S. Army have chosen a Zimpro® wet air oxidation (WAO) system from Siemens (formerly USFilter) to treat a waste stream generated by the destruction of chemical warfare material, as part of the U.S. Army Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Project (NSCMP). The system is currently under construction and will be installed at Texas Molecular, LLC, a commercial waste treatment facility in Deer Park, Texas, which will host the WAO system for this project.

Zimpro WAO technology was selected from a group of technologies being evaluated by Shaw Environmental and the Army as new and innovative alternatives to incineration for the treatment and disposal of wastes generated from the destruction of chemical warfare material. The WAO process was tested extensively, starting in 2001, in laboratory and pilot plant demonstration facilities at Siemens Zimpro Systems in Rothschild, Wisconsin.

Four NSCMP-generated waste streams were tested, and bench scale tests using batch autoclaves were conducted on each feed. The objective was to show greater than 99.9 percent destruction efficiency of target compounds in the feed materials. Bench scale tests met the treatment objectives, and subsequent continuous flow pilot plant treatability tests were conducted on each feed. The objective of the pilot plant testing was to demonstrate safe, continuous operation while showing process efficacy. The WAO system performed well in all cases and demonstrated greater than 99.9 percent destruction efficiency of targeted compounds.

Use of the full-scale WAO system, an environmentally-friendly alternative to incineration, will reduce the volume of off-gas generated by treatment of the waste stream. The WAO system will process 26.5 gallons per minute of neutralized chemical agent precursors. The precursor chemicals will be destroyed using a neutralization process at an Army facility in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The effluent from the WAO system will be disposed by Texas Molecular at its RCRA-permitted facility in Deer Park, Texas.

More importantly, the effluent will meet stringent specifications required by International Treaties. The United States ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), an international agreement that requires the destruction of chemical weapons and their production facilities by April, 2007. The NSCMP is a branch of the Army tasked to dispose of smaller quantities of chemicals and chemical-related materials that are subject to the CWC.

"We've shown that WAO is an effective technology for treating this type of material," said Rob Lawson, director of industrial systems for Zimpro Systems. "WAO technology has been successfully treating wastes in other specialty and high-strength applications since the 1950s. WAO can be an attractive alternative to incineration of many high-strength waste streams."

According to Bill Killilea, Shaw's program manager for Non-Stockpile Chemical Demilitarization, "Shaw evaluated and tested a variety of processes and innovative technologies for the treatment of Non-Stockpile secondary wastes. Shaw recommended the use of WAO to the Army for this project because of its demonstrated ability to meet the CWC requirements for destruction of the material and because of WAO's excellent operating history. We are excited to be a part of this partnership between the Army and industry."

SOURCE: Siemens Industry, Inc. - Water Technologies