Encapsulation of Waste for Storage
OwnerDouglas Kirkinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for encapsulating waste material (e.g radioactive sludge from nuclear processing plant) in a container (e.g Nirex box) for long term storage, comprising: a first storage vessel, for holding sludge; a second storage vessel, for holding encapsulation medium (e.g. cement based grout); an inline mixer (e.g. a static inline mixer), coupled for receiving sludge, and coupled to the second storage vessel, and producing, in use, a mixture of the sludge and grout; wherein the inline mixer is arranged for filling the container. Preferably, a dewatering unit (e.g. HydroTrans based), coupled for receiving sludge and outputting dewatered sludge to be mixed by the inline mixer. An encapsulation system comprising the encapsulation apparatus, and corresponding encapsulation methods, are also disclosed.
Claims31
An apparatus for encapsulating waste material in a container for long term storage, comprising:
- a first storage vessel, for holding waste material;
- a second storage vessel, for holding encapsulation medium;
- a static vane in-line mixer, coupled for receiving waste material, and coupled to the second storage vessel, and producing, in use, a mixture of the waste material and encapsulation medium;
- wherein the inline mixer is arranged for filling the container, and wherein the inline mixer comprises a disposable component disposed inside the container mounted on an internal surface of the container.
A system for encapsulating waste material for long term storage, comprising:
- a first storage vessel, for holding waste material;
- a second storage vessel, for holding encapsulation medium:
- a static vane in-line mixer, coupled for receiving waste material, and coupled to the second storage vessel, and producing, in use, a mixture of the waste material and encapsulation medium;
- wherein the inline mixer is arranged for filling the container, and wherein the inline mixer comprises a disposable component disposed inside the container mounted on an internal surface of the container.
- a container, the container comprising (i) a main body and separate lid member, or (ii) a unitary component with a main body and an integrally formed or fixedly attached lid member.
A method of encapsulating waste material in a container for long term storage, the method comprising:
- (a) providing a first storage vessel, for holding waste material;
- (b) providing a second storage vessel, for holding encapsulation medium;
- (c) providing an in-line mixer, coupled for receiving waste material, and coupled to the second storage vessel,
- (f) mixing the waste material and encapsulation medium in the inline mixer;
- (g) filling the container with the mixture output from the inline mixer, wherein the (c) providing includes providing a container, wherein the inline mixer comprises a disposable component disposed inside the container or on mounted an internal surface of the container.
(canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.