Hazardous or toxic waste destruction or containment – Containment – Solidification – vitrification – or cementation
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-09
2001-11-20
Griffin, Steven P. (Department: 1754)
Hazardous or toxic waste destruction or containment
Containment
Solidification, vitrification, or cementation
Reexamination Certificate
active
06320092
ABSTRACT:
The claimed technical solution relates to the field of ammunition utilization and in particular, to removing explosive substances consisting of a mixture of fusible and non-fusible components from a casing and simultaneously preparing explosive compositions of a predetermined formulation on the basis of extracted materials.
A method is known in the related art to be used for discarding ammunition, said method being based on removing explosive substances from an ammunition casing by supplying a liquid heat-carrier that is inert with respect to the components of explosive substances, into the casing under a pressure of 0.1 to 20 atm and at a temperature of 80 to 130° C. through a nozzle (RF Patent 2,056,035, Int. Cl. F42B 33/00, publ. 1996).
This method is suitable for removing a charge of explosive substances from ammunition, but it does not provide for separation of the heat-carrier from the explosive substances being removed, and this leads to accumulation of explosive substances in the heat-carrier and enhances the danger of the discarding process as well as does not allow to use the heat-carrier many times in the technlogical cycle. In addition, this method cannot be used to prepare an explosive composition of a predetermined formulation.
Also, a method is known in the related art to be used for utilization of waste materials containing mixed solid fuel, said method providing for mixing a liquid industrial explosive substance with a predetermined quantity of waste materials (PCT/US94/00406, Int. Cl. C06B 17/14, publ. 1994).
The above method allows to solve a particular problem. A mixed solid fuel is mixed with brisant explosive substances to produce thereby high-energy compositions.
The above method for removing a charge of explosive substances does not solve the problem of removing explosive substances from ammunition casings and preparing industrial explosive substances on their basis.
Besides, a method is also known in the related art to be used for destruction of articles made of explosive substances with simultaneous utilization of these explosive substances, said method consisting in that working medium is supplied onto the surface of an article made of explosive substances at a temperature of 30 to 180° C. and under pressure of 0.01 to 10,000 kg/cm
2
, and the resulting mixture of the working medium with the article destruction products is jointly processed into granules or castings of an industrial explosive substance having a predetermined oxygen balance.
As such working medium, use is made of melted or suspended ammonium nitrate and/or carbamide with purposive additives, wherein used as such are sodium nitrate,or mineral oil, or metallic powders,or water,or paraffine and mineral oil (RF Patent 1,795,962, Int.Cl. G06B 21/00, publ. 1993—the most relevant prior art prototype).
The above method has a number of disadvantages.
The working medium is continuously consumed and is included in the composition of the industrial explosive substance thus being prepared. The most efficient removal of explosive substances from ammunition casings, as shown by discarding investigations at pressures of 0.01 to 10 kg/cm
2
, is accomplished at modulus 1 . . . 50 . . . 100, i.e., in order to remove 1 kg of explosive substances, it is necessary to introduce 50 . . . 100 kg of the working medium into an ammunition casing. If fresh working medium is used at all times, it will be then needed in large quantities.
For instance, in order to remove 1.5 t of trotyl from an aviation bomb Calibre 3000, it is necessary to use 105 t of working medium, and this involes a substantial power consumption.
The problem of separating the explosive substances from the working medium is not solved by the above method.
And, wash-out by the working medium containing the extracted explosive substance is dangerous. Solid additives (metallic powders, carbamides), if added, also enhance the danger of the removal process.
The above method also does not solve the problem of proportions between various components included in an industrial explosive substance.
Equipment (apparatuses) are known in the related art to be used for carrying out a process of discarding ammunition of artillery and other types (British Patent No. 139207, Int. Cl. F42B 33/06—the most relevant prior art prototype).
In this equipment, a pump and a nozzle are arranged to be disposed so that water from a collector flows to the nozzle and then from the nozzle into shells which are located each under an individual nozzle. An offtake channel located lower than a shell holder provides a discharge of the water flow containing ingredients of the bursting charge in dissolved condition or in a form of suspension. A settling chamber and an overflow pipe are arranged to be disposed between the offtake channel and the water collector for catching heavier particles and for receiving the discharged water flow containing water-soluble compounds.
This equipment possesses the following disadvantages.
As a result of a leaky connection between the nozzle and the casing of the article being washed out and existence of open offtake channels and apparatuses, there takes place an ejection of water vapours and removed explosive substance vapours into the room, and this sharply affects ecological and sanitary environment.
Evacuation of the removed explosive substance from the settling chamber is impeded, and adequate purification of water is not ensured.
The removed explosive substance in the settling chamber has a high moisture content, and this hampers its repeated use and leads to the necessity of explosion and fire hazardous drying.
It is impossible to prepare an explosive composition of a predetermined formulation on the basis of the extracted explosive substance.
All the disadvantages of the most relevant prior art prototype are non-existent in the claimed technical solution.
Extraction is carried out with the use of a neutral heat-carrier which, after it removes the explosive substance out of the ammunition casing, is separated from the explosive substance and, being pure, is recycled to the casing.
Thus, the working medium is practically not consumed during the washing-out process. The same working medium can be used for several months of continuous operation.
During the washing-out and separation process, evaporation of melted trotyl is avoided due to leak-proofness of pipelines and apparatuses.
The disclosed method is realized by means of a device (separator) which ensures the separation of explosive substance and working medium.
Wash-out by a pure working inedium that is neutral to explosive substances, is a safe process. The bulk of extracted explosive substances is continuously weighed. Thus, their proportion is continuously maintained.
When creating the present invention, a problem was posed to develop an efficient and no-waste technique for extracting and processing explosive substances while making it simultaneously more ecologically favourable by incorporating therein a number of operations and by including novel design features in the device.
When carrying out the group of inventions directed at such a subject matter as “Method”, the technical result is attainable owing to that the explosive substances are removed out of the casing by supplying an inert, liquid and pressurized heat-carrier heated to a predetermined temperature onto the surface of said explosive substances through a movable nozzle, whereupon the charge destruction product is processed into an industrial explosive substance.
The removal of explosive substances out of the ammunition casing is carried out due to a heat transfer from the working mediuim to the charge and a wash-out of the softened explosive substance out of the casing. Processing of the resulting mixture consists in the following:
the mixture of the extracted explosive substance and the heat-carrier is continuously precipitated and weighed in the process of accumulating the sediment within the separator;
as soon as a predetermined loading weight is reached in the separator, the supply of the heat-carrier and the removal of
Davydov Petr Stepanovich
Glinsky Viktor Petrovich
Kovyrzin Lev Pavlovich
Kuprinenok Viktor Mikhailovich
Manushin Alexandr Lvovich
Griffin Steven P.
Krasnoarmeisky Nauchno-Issledovatelsky Institut Mekmanizaishi
Ladas and Parry
Nave Eileen E.
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