Disposal of chemical munitions using concomitant neutralization, gelation and encapsulation

Dilhan M. Kalyon, Suphan Kovenklioglu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The disposal method developed at SIT involves the conversion of chemical munitions to safely transportable inert products. The main advantage is that the need for incineration at every location where currently munitions are stored is eliminated because the neutralized and encapsulated products are capable of safe transport. The method includes the continuous neutralization and gelation of the highly toxic chemicals and the continuous encapsulation of the neutralized products. A preferred embodiment of our disposal method includes a neutralization process which is accomplished by mixing the highly toxic chemicals along with any wash solution used to clean out the chemical storage containers or weapons with a neutralization agent specifically chosen to neutralize the particular chemical. The mixing occurs in both a mixing head and in a twin screw extruder designed to ensure thorough mixing. After neutralization, the neutralization products are encapsulated in a polymeric binder via a twin screw extrusion process which is designed to separate the neutralization product into discrete, small sized particles (or droplets), and surround them with the polymer so that the chemical is not exposed to the surface of the encapsulated composition. The encapsulated composition is then coated again with another layer of polymeric material to generate inert “logs” to ensure total encapsulation, and safe transport.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)165-183
Number of pages19
JournalJournal of Energetic Materials
Volume13
Issue number3-4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1995

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