LFCM (liquid-fed ceramic melter) processing characteristics of mercury

An experimental-scale liquid-fed ceramic melter was used in a series of tests to evaluate the processing characteristics of mercury in simulated defense waste under various melter operating conditions. This solidification technology had no detectable capacity for incorporating mercury into its borosilicate, vitreous, product, and essentially all the mercury fed to the melter was lost to the off-gas system as gaseous effluent. An ejector venturi scrubber condensed and collected 97% of the mercury evolved from the melter. Chemically the condensed mercury effluent was composed entirely of chlorides, and except in a low-temperature test, mercury chlorides (Hg{sub 2}Cl{sub 2}) was the primary chloride formed. As a result, combined mercury accounted for most of the insoluble mass collected by the process quench scrubber. Although macroscopic quantities of elemental mercury were never observed in process secondary waste streams, finely divided and dispersed mercury that blackened all condensed Hg{sub 2}Cl{sub 2} residues was capable of saturating the quenched process exhaust with mercury vapor. However, the vapor pressure of mercury in the quenched melter exhaust was easily and predictably controlled with an off-gas stream chiller. 5 refs., 4 figs., 12 tabs.