United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Risk Reduction
Engineering Laboratory
Cincinnati, OH 45268
Research and Development
EPA/600/SR-94/027 April 1994
EPA Project Summary
Minipilot Solar System:
Design/Operation of System
and Results of Non-Solar
Testing at MR I
Paul Gorman, Ed Ball, John James and Pam Murowchick
A Minipilot Solar Reactor System
(MSRS) with liquid organic feed was
designed, constructed, and tested with-
out solar input (the solar tests were to
be done later at DOE's National Re-
newable Energy Laboratory). The non-
solar tests were done to determine
whether use of EPA's sampling and
analysis methods would allow
quantitation of the expected signifi-
cantly lower organic emissions when
the MSRS is operated with solar input.
Results of the 10 tests showed that it
should be possible to determine if there
is a significant reduction in emissions
(>3X) when operating with solar input.
Such reduction in the emissions should
be determinable for two of the princi-
pal constituents contained in the syn-
thetic feed liquid (CCI4 and
dichlorobenzene), for both the volatile
and semivolatile products of incomplete
combustion (PICs), and fordioxins and
furans. But reductions are probably not
determinable for the other two feed con-
stituents (toluene and naphthalene).
Results also showed that a three-fold
reduction in volatile PICs occurred in
both single-chamber tests when an ar-
tificial UV light was utilized.
This Project Summary was developed
by EPA's Risk Reduction Engineering
Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH, to announce
key findings of the research project
that is fully documented in a separate
report of the same title (see Project
Report ordering information at back).
Introduction
ATri-Agency effort was initiated in 1991
to develop solar technology for the de-
struction of hazardous wastes. The three
Agencies are EPA (RREL, the Risk Re-
duction Engineering Laboratory), DOE
(NREL, the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory), and DOD (USAEC, the U.S.
Army Environmental Center). As part of
the Tri-Agency effort, EPA's RREL set out
to design, construct, and test an MSRS
with liquid organic feed. The system was
designed to enable the study of the de-
struction of organic compounds and the
emission of PICs when combustion of the
liquid organic feed was augmented with
concentrated solar input.
This project did not involve use of solar
energy for desorption of organics from
soil. Rather, it was directed to the use of
solar energy for destruction of organics
that would be desorbed from soil by con-
ventional low-temperature thermal desorp-
tion, with recovery of the desorbed
organics in liquid form prior to their solar
destruction. Advantages of this concept
are that it utilizes conventional desorption
equipment and enables soil desorption
operations to be continuous (that is, inde-
pendent of solar availability). Also, this
concept enables the solar destructor to be
relatively small since it needs to process
only the amount of organics recovered as
liquid from the soil desorption operations.
Testing of the MSRS was intended to
include the determination of the degree of
destruction of principal organic hazardous
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constituents (POHCs) and the emission of
PICs, when operating with concentrated
solar input using facilities at DOE's Na-
tional Renewable Energy Laboratory. It
was first necessary, however, to conduct
tests without solar input to determine if it
would be possible to quantify significantly
lower levels of emissions that might be
provided by solar input.
The system has not yet been tested
with solar input, but testing without solar
input has been completed. Those "non-
solar" results are summarized here, along
with results from tests done with the input
of artificial ultraviolet (UV) light.
Methodology
The MSRS was designed to operate in
either of two modes: single or duel cham-
ber. In the single-chamber mode, the liq-
uid feed is combusted in one chamber
that is equipped with a quartz window for
the concentrated solar rays to enter. In
the dual-chamber mode, the liquid is com-
busted in one chamber and the gases
then enter the second chamber which is
equipped with the quartz window.
The entire system consisted of many
components including the feed and con-
trol of liquid organic and combustion air,
and effluent gas monitoring and cleanup
(see Figure 1). It was fully equipped with
process monitoring instruments, flame de-
compressed air
Liquid organic feed
Gas effluent
discharge "*
tectors and other safety shutdown inter-
locks, continuous emission monitoring of
CO, 02, and THC, and computerized data
logging and control.
The design of the system was based on
a liquid organic feed rate of 11 g/min. and
an air feed rate of 10 fP/min. Each reactor
chamber was 10.5 in. inner diameter by
36 in. long with approximately 4-in.-thick
internal insulation and 4-in.-thick external
insulation (see Figure 2). Operating tem-
peratures could be varied over a range of
1400°to2000°F.
The composition of the synthetic liquid
organic feed to be used in most of the
non-solar and solar testing was selected
by the Tri-Agency group. Its composition
was:
POHC/Fuel Oil Blend
No. 2 fuel oil 40%
o-Dichlorobenzene (DCB) 40%
Carbon tetrachloride (CCI4) 10%
Naphthalene 5%
Toluene 5%
100%
After initial operation of the system and
preliminary testing with an on-line gas chro-
matograph/electron capture detector, tests
were conducted using EPA Methods 0030
and 0010 (volatile organic sampling train
7sf chamber
2nd chamber
Quartz
window
Gas
cooler
CW
Gas pump
Carbon Alumina Water
bed NaOH separator
pellet bed
Figure 1. Simplified schematic diagram of Minipilot Solar Reactor System.
[VOST] and modified Method 5 [MM5]) to
quantify the emissions of the POHCs listed
above and the emission of PICs. As noted
previously, the primary purpose of these
tests was to measure emissions in the
non-solar mode in order to determine if
significantly lower emissions could be
quantified when operating with solar in-
put. This was determined by comparing
the measured emissions with the detec-
tion limits of the methods and blank lev-
els.
Results
A series of 10 tests, without solar input,
was carried out using the EPA methods
(VOST and MM5). This series included
tests in both the single- and dual-chamber
modes at two waste feed and air input
flow rates (referred to as "low flow" and
"high flow"). Four of these tests were done
with the input of UV light to simulate the
solar tests that were to follow at DOE/
NREL's "High-Flux Solar Facility" located
in Golden, CO. All tests involved analysis
of samples for POHCs and PICs, and
some tests also included the analysis of
dioxins/furans.
Results from the 10 tests are summa-
rized in Table 1. Runs 35, 36, 39, and 40
of Table 1 show the four UV-light tests.
These can readily be compared with the
six "conventional incineration" tests also
shown in the table.
Conclusions
Major conclusions drawn from the test
results were:
Destruction/removal efficiency for the
four POHCs were all above 99.999%
in these non-solar tests.
Based mainly on the comparison of
measured emissions with blank lev-
els, it will be possible to quantify a
significant decrease in emissions of
volatile and semivolatile PICs and two
of the POHCs (CCI4 and DCB) when
the solar ("on-sun") tests are done at
NREL. It will not be possible, how-
ever, to quantify any significant de-
crease in emissions of the other two
POHCs (toluene and naphthalene).
Tests with artificial UV light indicated
a significant decrease in emissions of
volatile PICs when operating in the
single-chamber mode; however,
these tests did not show a significant
decrease for semivolatile PICs, nor
for any of the four POHCs tested.
The full report was submitted in fulfill-
ment of Work Assignment No. 18 of EPA
Contract No. 68-DO-0137 by the Midwest
Research Institute (MRI) of Kansas City,
MO under the sponsorship of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.
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Fuel injection
and access ports
flame detector port
1 inch flange
36.000
Note: All dimensions are in inches
13.875 dia. quartz window for solar
or UV input
Figure 2. Solar detoxification reactor - section view.
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Paul Gorman, Ed Ball, John James and Pam Murowchick are with Midwest
Research Institute, Kansas City, MO 64110
C.C. Lee is the EPA Project Officer (see below).
The complete report, entitled "Minipilot Solar System: Design/Operation of
System and Results of Non-Solar Testing at MR I," (Order No. PB94-
152238AS; Cost: $27.00, subject to change) will be available only from:
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA22161
Telephone: 703-487-4650
The EPA Project Officer can be contacted at:
Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Cincinnati, OH 45268
United States
Environmental Protection Agency
Center for Environmental Research Information
Cincinnati, OH 45268
Official Business
Penalty for Private Use
$300
BULK RATE
POSTAGE & FEES PAID
EPA
PERMIT No. G-35
EPA/600/SR-94/027
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