SRT-ETF-2002-00008
April 15, 2002
M. T. Terry
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
P. O. Box 999, MSIN K9-919
Richland, WA 99352
Reference: SR18WT21, Subtask C.1-1
Dear Mr. Terry:
FULL-SCALE SINGLE ELEMENT SIMULANT TESTING
(U)Background
The Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC), the High Level Waste (HLW) Division, the Tanks Focus Area, and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) have been investigating high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters which can be regenerated or cleaned in situ as an alternative to conventional disposable HEPA filters. Research and testing being conducted at the CeraMem Corporation, Mott Corporation, SRTC and the Oak Ridge Filter Test Facility has found that the sintered metal and ceramic filter media holds great potential as a long life alternative to conventional HEPA filters.
Discussion
The full-scale single element simulant testing has been completed at SRTC. Two filters were tested, a ceramic filter manufactured by CeraMem Corporation and a sintered metal filter manufactured by Mott Corporation. The filters are depicted in Figure 1, the ceramic filter is on the left and the sintered metal filter is on the right.
Fig. 1: Full-scale ceramic and sintered metal filter elements
Below is a picture of the HEPA Filter Test Apparatus that was design and constructed to conduct the full-scale single element simulant testing.
Fig. 2: HEPA Filter Test Apparatus
The ceramic and sintered metal filters performed well in the hostile environment during the simulant test. The filters regenerated well insitu during the sludge and salt test. However for the overall test campaign, the differential pressure (dP) across the media for both filters did not return to a clean filter status. During the SC road dust test, a 38% increase in dP across the ceramic media occurred and 32% dP increase of the sintered metal. The data from the testing will be analyzed and a formal technical report will be developed.
This data does not necessarily mean the filters will not completely regenerate insitu when operated in a realistic manner. During this testing, extremely hostile conditions were created, such as loading the filters to over 100% clean filter dP (i.e. 13" wc clean load to 29" wc). This data indicates that in actual field conditions, the filters should be cleaned insitu when the dP increase is less than 20%.
After completion of the simulant test at SRTC, the ceramic and sintered metal test filters were returned to Oak Ridge for a post particle retention test. Both filters passed the test with greater than 99.97% particle retention efficiency. This is positive indication that the filters are not deteriorating from the plugging and insitu cleaning cycles.
Sincerely yours,
D. J. Adamson, Fellow Engineer
Engineering Development Section
cc: TTG, Electronic Mail,
http://www.tanks.org/DocumentSubmittalForm.htmTanks Focus Area Technical Team, c/o B. J. Williams, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,
P. O. Box 999, MSIN K9-69, Richland, WA 99352
Tanks Focus Area Program Manager, c/o T. P. Pietrok, U. S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office, P. O. Box 550, MS: K8-50, Richland, WA 99352
Tanks Focus Area Headquarters Program Lead, c/o Kurt Gerdes, DOE Office of Science and Technology, 19901 Germantown Road, 1154 Cloverleaf Building, Germantown, MD 20874-1290
T. S. Gutmann, U. S. Department of Energy, Savannah River Operations Office, P. O. Box A,
Aiken, SC 29802
P. C. Suggs, U. S. Department of Energy, Savannah River Operations Office, P. O. Box A,
Aiken, SC 29802
R. E. Edwards, Westinghouse Savannah River Company, Savannah River Site, Building 704-3N, Aiken, SC 29808
J. P. Morin, Westinghouse Savannah River Company, Savannah River Site, Building 703-H, Aiken, SC 29808
J. L. Malhotra, U. S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory,
3610 Collins Ferry Road, P. O. Box 880, Morgantown, WV 26507-0880
S. J. Strohmeier, 742-8G
M. L. Restivo, 786-6A
D. B. Burns, 786-5A
S. T. Wach, 773-42A