Methods for melting of materials to be treated

A process for melting materials having hazardous and/or contaminated and/or waste substances, comprising:

• providing a container having an interior surface forming one or more side walls and a base;
• lining the container interior surface with a first insulation material;
• lining the container interior surface with a refractory material;
• placing sand between the container and the refractory material;
• placing materials including the hazardous and/or contaminated and/or waste substances into the container, wherein the container can withstand temperatures of up to 2000 degrees C. without significant degradation of the container;
• heating the materials in the container to a molten state;
• vitrifying the molten materials without removing molten materials from the container to form a vitrified product in the container that contains at least a portion of the hazardous and/or contaminated and/or waste substances immobilized therein;
• and
• wherein the container may be discarded with the vitrified product therein or the container may be used for another melting process.

A process for melting materials having hazardous and/or contaminated substances, comprising:

• providing a container having an interior portion, the container being capable of withstanding temperatures of up to 2000 degrees C. without significant degradation of the container, wherein the container does not comprise a region formed in the ground;
• placing a refractory layer comprising cement on the interior portion of the container before placing substances to be treated into the container;
• placing sand between the interior portion of the container and the refractory layer before placing the substances to be treated into the container;
• placing the substances to be treated into the container;
• placing at least two electrodes located in the substances to be treated and passing a current between the at least two electrodes to heat the substances in the container to a molten state;
• vitrifying the molten materials without removing molten materials from the container to form a vitrified product in the container that contains at least a portion of the hazardous and/or contaminated substances immobilized therein;
• and
• discarding the container with the vitrified product therein or removing the vitrified product from the container and using the container for another melting process.