Technology
The Department of Defense conducted studies to evaluate potential impacts of the elimination of these weapons using incineration and non-incineration methods for the plant. Four technologies were considered:
- incineration
- chemical neutralization followed by supercritical water oxidation (SCWO)
- chemical neutralization followed by supercritical water oxidation and gas phase chemical reduction
- electrochemical oxidation
The Department of Defense selected neutralization followed by SCWO for use at the depot. The method comprises the following steps:
- Munitions are disassembled by modified reverse assembly.
- The chemical agent and energetics are separated. Agent and energetics are chemically mixed with caustic or water to destroy the chemical agent using hydrolysis. The resulting chemical compounds are known as hydrolysates.
- Hydrolysates are held and tested to ensure agent destruction before proceeding to secondary treatment.
- The agent and energetic hydrolysates are fed to the SCWO units to destroy the organic materials. SCWO subjects the hydrolysate to very high temperatures and pressures, breaking them down into carbon dioxide, water and salts.
- Metal parts are thermally decontaminated by high-pressure water washout and heating to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit for a minimum of 15 minutes. The metal parts can then be safely recycled.
- Gas effluents are filtered through a series of HEPA and carbon filters before being released to the atmosphere. Water is recycled into the pilot plant facility and reused as part of the destruction process.
Read more about this topic: Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant
Famous quotes containing the word technology:
“The real accomplishment of modern science and technology consists in taking ordinary men, informing them narrowly and deeply and then, through appropriate organization, arranging to have their knowledge combined with that of other specialized but equally ordinary men. This dispenses with the need for genius. The resulting performance, though less inspiring, is far more predictable.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)
“If the technology cannot shoulder the entire burden of strategic change, it nevertheless can set into motion a series of dynamics that present an important challenge to imperative control and the industrial division of labor. The more blurred the distinction between what workers know and what managers know, the more fragile and pointless any traditional relationships of domination and subordination between them will become.”
—Shoshana Zuboff (b. 1951)
“Primitive peoples tried to annul death by portraying the human body—we do it by finding substitutes for the human body. Technology instead of mysticism!”
—Max Frisch (1911–1991)