• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.49 no.5
• /
• pp.1010-1018
• /
• 2017

The European Treatment and Disposal of Irradiated Graphite and other Carbonaceous Waste project sought to develop best practices in the retrieval, treatment, and disposal of irradiated graphite including other irradiated carbonaceous waste such as structural material made of graphite, nongraphitized carbon bricks, and fuel coatings. Emphasis was given on legacy irradiated graphite, as this represents a significant inventory in respective national waste management programs. This paper provides an overview of the characteristics of graphite irradiated during its use, primarily as a moderator material, within nuclear reactors. It describes the potential techniques applicable to the retrieval, treatment, recycling/reuse, and disposal of these graphite wastes. Considering the lifecycle of nuclear graphite, from manufacture to final disposal, a number of waste management options have been developed. These options consider the techniques and technologies required to address each stage of the lifecycle, such as segregation, treatment, recycle, and ultimate disposal in a radioactive waste repository, providing a toolbox to aid operators and regulators to determine the most appropriate management strategy. It is noted that national waste management programs currently have, or are in the process of developing, respective approaches to irradiated graphite management. The output of the Treatment and Disposal of Irradiated Graphite and other Carbonaceous Waste project is intended to aid these considerations, rather than dictate them.

• Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.122-130
• /
• 2005

Gasification of carbonaceous wastes such as shredded tire, waste lubricating oil, plastics, and powdered coal initiates a single-stage reforming reactor(reformer) Without catalyst and a syngas burner. Syngas is combusted with $O_2$ gas in the syngas burner to produce $H_2O\;{and}\;CO_2$ gas with exothermic heat. Reaction products are introduced into the reforming reactor, reaction heat from syngas burner elevates the temperature of reactor above $1,200^{\circ}C$, and hydrogen gas fraction reaches 65% of the product gas output. Reactants and heat necessary for the reaction are provided through the syngas burner only. Neither $O_2$ gas nor steam is injected into the reforming reactor. Multiple syngas burners may be connected to the reforming reactor in order to increase the syngas output, and the product syngas is recycled into syngas burner.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.165-175
• /
• 2017

In Japan, the primary carbonaceous particles emitted from motor vehicles and waste incinerators have been reduced due to strict regulations against exhaust gas. However, the relative contribution of carbonaceous particles derived from plants and biomass has been increasing. Accordingly, compositional analysis of carbonaceous particles has become increasingly important to determine the sources and types of particles produced. To reveal the sources of the organic particles contained in particulate matter with diameters of ${\leq}2.5{\mu}m$ ($PM_{2.5}$) and the processes involved in their generation, we analyzed molecular marker compounds (2-methyltetrols, cis-pinonic acid, and levoglucosan) derived from the plants and biomass in the $PM_{2.5}$ collected during daytime- and nighttime-sampling periods in summer (July and August) and autumn (November) in Kazo, which is in the northern area of Saitama prefecture, Japan. We also measured $^{14}C$ carbonaceous concentrations in the same $PM_{2.5}$ samples. The concentrations of 2-methyltetrols were higher in the summer than in the autumn. Because the deciduous period overlaps with this decrease in the levels of 2-methyltetrols, we considered the emission source to broad-leaved trees. In contrast, the emission source of the cis-pinonic acid precursor was considered to be conifers, because its concentration remained almost constant throughout the year. The concentration of levoglucosan was considerably increased in the autumn due to frequent biomass open burning. The ratio of plant-derived carbon to total carbon, obtained by measuring of $^{14}C$, in summer $PM_{2.5}$ sample was higher in the nighttime, and could be influenced by anthropogenic sources during the daytime.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.61 no.6
• /
• pp.339-345
• /
• 2017

Carbonaceous adsorbent (CA-WTP) was prepared by heat treatment at $400^{\circ}C$ for 2 h in N2 atmosphere using waste tire powder (WTP). WTP and CA-WTP were first characterized by thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), specific surface area analysis (BET) and FT-IR spectroscopy. Then, they were tested as adsorbents for removal of Cd in water. CA-WTP exhibited much higher specific surface area and total pore volume than WTP itself and showed higher adsorption capacity for Cd. Equilibrium data of adsorption were analyzed using Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models. It was seen that both Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms have correlation coefficient $R^2$ value larger than 0.95. The results of studies indicate that CA-WTP developed from WTP by heat treatment could be used as efficient adsorbent for the removal Cd from water.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.53 no.4
• /
• pp.1224-1235
• /
• 2021

An integrated waste management approach for irradiated graphite was developed during the European Commission project 'Treatment and Disposal of Irradiated Graphite and other Carbonaceous Waste'. This included the identification of potential options for the management of irradiated graphite, taking account of storage, retrieval, treatment and disposal methods. This paper describes how these options can be assessed using multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) for a case study relating to a generic power reactor. Criteria have been defined to account for safety, environmental, economic and socio-political factors, including radiological impact, resource usage, economic costs and risks. The impact of each option against each criterion has been assessed using data from the project and the wider literature. A linear additive approach has been used to convert the calculated impacts to scores. To account for the relative importance of the criteria, example weightings were allocated. This application has shown that MCDA approaches can be used to support complex decisions regarding irradiated graphite management, accounting for a wide range of criteria. Use of this approach by individual countries or organisations will need to account for the specific options, scores, weightings and constraints that apply, based on their national strategies, regulatory requirements and public acceptability.

• Carbon letters
• /
• v.19
• /
• pp.66-71
• /
• 2016

The development of nanostructured functional materials derived from biomass and/or waste is of growing importance for creating sustainable energy-storage systems. In this study, nanoporous carbonaceous materials containing numerous heteroatoms were fabricated from waste coffee grounds using a top-down process via simple heating with KOH. The nanoporous carbon nanosheets exhibited notable material properties such as high specific surface area (1960.1 m² g⁻¹), numerous redox-active heteroatoms (16.1 at% oxygen, 2.7 at% nitrogen, and 1.6 at% sulfur), and high aspect ratios (>100). These unique properties led to good electrochemical performance as supercapacitor electrodes. A specific capacitance of ~438.5 F g⁻¹ was achieved at a scan rate of 2 mV s⁻¹, and a capacitance of 176 F g⁻¹ was maintained at a fast scan rate of 100 mV s⁻¹. Furthermore, cyclic stability was achieved for over 2000 cycles.

• Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.117-126
• /
• 2019

Activated carbon is carbon produced from carbonaceous source materials, such as coconut shells, coals, and woods. In this study, an activated carbon production system was analyzed by carbonization and activation in terms of environmental impact and human health. The feedstock of wood wastes for the system reduced fossil fuel consumption and disposal costs. Life cycle assessment methodology was used to analyze the environmental impacts of the system, and the functional unit was one tonne of wood wastes. The boundary expansion method was applied to analyze the wood waste recycling process for activated carbon production. An environmental credit was quantified by avoided impact analysis. Specifically, greenhouse gases discharged from 1 kg of activated carbon production system by feeding wood wastes were evaluated. We found that this system reduced global warming potential of approximately $9.69E+00kg\;CO_2-eq$. compared to the process using coals. The environmental benefits for activated carbon production from wood wastes were analyzed in contrast to other disposal methods. The results showed that the activated carbon system using one tonne of wood wastes has an environmental benefit of $163kg\;CO_2-eq$. for reducing global warming potential in comparison with the same amount of wood wastes disposal by landfilling.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.52 no.4
• /
• pp.797-801
• /
• 2020

Most of irradiated graphite that should be disposed comes from moderators and reflectors of nuclear power plants. The quantity of irradiated graphite could be higher in the future if high-temperature reactors (HTRs) will be deployed. In this case noteworthy quantities of fuel pebbles containing semi-graphitic carbonaceous material should be added to the already existing 250,000 tons of irradiated graphite. Industry graphite is largely used in industrial applications for its high thermal and electrical conductivity and thermal and chemical resistance, making it a valuable material. Irradiated graphite constitutes a waste management challenge owing to the presence of long-lived radionuclides, such as ¹⁴C and ³⁶Cl. In the ENEA Nuclear Material Characterization Laboratory it has been successfully designed a procedure based on the exfoliation process organic solvent assisted, with the purpose of investigate the possibility of achieving graphite significantly less toxic that could be recycled for other purpose [1]. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the possibility of the scalability from laboratory to industrial dimensions of the exfoliation process and provide the prototype of a chemical plant for the treatment of irradiated graphite.

• Water for future
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.75-85
• /
• 1993

In this study, reach boundaries in QUAL2E Model were set by the locations of point-waste discharge or tributary input and measured or direct calculated hydrologic factors were used in computation as much as possible. South Platte Experimental River in Colorado, USA was selected as a target river and data collected during September 1991 and January 1992 periods were used for calibration and verification, respectively. Constituents modeled in this study are 5-day carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand(CBOD$) and dissolved oxygen(DO). The good agreement was obtained between a calculated using this model and observed, less than 5% to DO and about 20% to CBOD$. According to the result of water-quality prediction, experimental river is classified as the 4th category by the criteria of environmental protection agency in the USA in 2001.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
• /
• 2003.11a
• /
• pp.79-84
• /
• 2003

The main objective of this study was to investigate the chemical characteristics of post-harvest biomass burning aerosols from field burning of barley straw in late spring and rice straw in late fall in rural area in Korea. 12-hr integrated intensive sampling of $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ biomass burning aerosols had been conducted continuously at Gwangju, Korea 4-15 June 2001 and 8 October-14 November 2002. The fine and coarse particles of biomass burning aerosols were collected for mass, ionic, elemental, and carbonaceous species analysis. Average fine and coarse mass concentrations of biomass burning aerosols were measured to be 129.6, 24.2 ${{\mu}gm}^{-3}$ in June 2001 and 47.1, 33.2 ${{\mu}gm}^{-3}$ in October to November 2002, respectively. Exceptionally high level of $PM_{2.5}$ concentration up to 157.8 ${{\mu}gm}^{-3}$ well above 24-hour standard was observed during the biomass burning event days under stagnant atmosphere condition. During biomass burning periods dominant ionic species were $Cl^{-}$, ${NO_3}^{-}$, ${SO_4}^{2-}$, and ${NH_4}^{+}$ in fine and coarse mode. In the fine mode $Cl^{-}$ and ${KCl}^{+}$ were unusually rich due to the high content of the semiarid vegetation. High OC values and OC/EC ratios were also measured during the biomass burning periods. Increased amount of fine aerosols with high enrichment, which were originated from biomass burning of post-harvest agricultural waste, resulted in extremely severe particulate air pollution and visibility degradation in the region. Particulate matters from open field burning of agricultural wastes cause great adverse impact on local air quality and regional climate.