Hot Gas Decontamination of Explosives - Contaminated Equipment

Abstract

Explosives manufacturing, handling, and demilitarization operations at U.S. Army industrial facilities have resulted in contaminated process equipment, scrap metal, and sewer systems. Because of the residual contamination, these items can not be reused or disposed. The U.S. Army Toxic and Hazardous Materials Agency has studied technologies to effectively treat these explosive-contaminated materials. The most promising of these technologies was hot gas decontamination. A recent field demonstration at Hawthorne Army Ammunition Plant demonstrated the ability of the hot gas decontamination system to effectively remove explosives such that the test items are not characteristically hazardous and are appropriate for disposal as scrap. Based upon the success of this demonstration, the Hawthorne Army Ammunition Plant intends to implement this, technology in current demilitarization operations. Full-scale operation will begin following completion of several system changes. The results of the field demonstration and the proposed system changes are described.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 1992
Accession Number
ADA514502

Entities

People

  • E. B. Hangeland
  • K. R. Keehan
  • T. S. O'rourke
  • W. E. Sisk

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Ammunition
  • Combustion
  • Concrete
  • Contamination
  • Decomposition
  • Decontamination
  • Demonstrations
  • Energetic Materials
  • Explosives
  • Gases
  • Governments
  • Hazardous Materials
  • Hot Gases
  • Materials
  • Munitions
  • Residuals

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Environmental Engineering.