ASSESSMENT OF THE ABILITY OF STANDARD SLURRY PUMPS TO MIX SOLIDS WITH LIQUIDS IN TANK 50H

Poirier, M.

Savannah River Site (S.C.)

关键词: Fluid Mechanics;    Liquid Wastes;    Computerized Simulation;    Simulation;    Production;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1032067
RP-ID  :  SRNL-STI-2011-00688
RP-ID  :  DE-AC09-08SR22470
RP-ID  :  1032067

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

Tank 50H is the feed tank for the Saltstone Production Facility (SPF). In the summer of 2011, Tank 50H contained two standard slurry pumps and two quad volute slurry pumps. Current requirements for mixing operation is to run three pumps for one hour prior to initiating a feed transfer to SPF. Savannah River Site (SRS) Liquid Waste moved both of the Quad Volute pumps from Tank 50H to Tank 51H to replace pumps in Tank 51H that were failing. In addition, one of the standard pumps in Tank 50H exhibits high seal leakage and vibration. SRS Liquid Waste requested Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to conduct a study to evaluate the feasibility of mixing the contents of Tank 50H with one to three standard slurry pumps. To determine the pump requirements to mix solids with liquids in Tank 50H, the author reviewed the pilot-scale blending work performed for the Small Column Ion Exchange Process (SCIX), SRNL computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling, Tank 50H operating experience, and the technical literature, and applied the results to Tank 50H to determine the number, size, and operating parameters of pumps needed to mix the solid particles with the liquid in Tank 50H. The analysis determined pump requirements to suspend the solids with no 'dead zones', but did not determine the pump requirements to produce a homogeneous suspension. In addition, the analysis determined the pump requirements to prevent the accumulation of a large amount of solid particles under the telescoping transfer pump. The conclusions from this analysis follow: (1) The analysis shows that three Quad Volute pumps should be able to suspend the solid particles expected ({approx}0.6 g/L insoluble solids, {approx}5 micron) in Tank 50H. (2) Three standard slurry pumps may not be able to suspend the solid particles in Tank 50H; (3) The ability of two Quad Volute pumps to fully suspend all of the solid particles in Tank 50H is marginal; and (4) One standard slurry pump should be able to achieve a cleaning radius larger than 43.5 feet, which will prevent large amounts of solid particles from settling under the telescoping transfer pump (TTP). The report recommends a pump operating approach to maximize the achieved cleaning radius.