Incineration process for disposal of waste propellant and explosives

Claim 2

A process for incineration of waste liquid and solid propellants and explosives comprising: a. forming an aqueous suspension of propellant or explosive waste in water having a dispersed phase comprising solid propellant or explosive waste in particulate form, in which the solid particles have an average maximum length of less than 0.25 inch, and a continuous phase comprising water; b. introducing air, and the suspension of step (a) into one end of a rotary incinerator operating at a temperature of from about 1200*F. to about 2200*F., said suspension being fed at a rate sufficient to initially form a thin aqueous layer of said suspension on the walls of said incinerator and continuously contacting said layer of suspension with dry surface of said incinerator wall whereby the aqueous content of the continuous phase of the suspension is evaporated and the propellant particles are sequentially dried and ignited within; c. drawing exhaust gases from the rotary kiln and contacting said exhaust gases with water to remove particulate matter and noxious gases from saiD gas, and d. exhausting the resulting gases from step (c) to the atmosphere.

Claim 3

The process of claim 1 in which the solid propellant or explosive particles have an average maximum length of about 0.10 inch.

Claim 4

The process of claim 1 in which the particulate solid propellant is ground single base propellant.

Claim 5

The process of claim 1 in which the particulate solid propellant is a mixture of ground single base and double base propellant.

Claim 6

The process of claim 1 in which the dispersed phases comprises a particulate carbonaceous combustible material which contains absorbed liquid propellant or explosive.

Claim 7

The process of claim 5 in which the dispersed phase comprises sawdust impregnated with nitroglycerin.

Claim 8

A process for incineration of waste solid propellant or explosive comprising the steps of: a. removing extraneous metal from said solid propellant or explosive feed material, b. grinding the substantially extraneous metal-free solid propellant or explosive in the presence of water, to form solid particles, substantially all of said particles having a (maximum) average dimension of less than 0.25 inch, c. mixing said water wet solid particles and additional water necessary to form an aqueous suspension of said solid particles in water, the weight ratio of water to said solid particles being from about 19:1 to about 1:1, d. introducing air, and the suspension of step (c) into one end of a rotary incinerator operating at a temperature of from about 1,200*F. to about 2,200*F., said suspension being fed at a rate sufficient to initially form a thin aqueous layer of said suspension on the walls of said incinerator, and continuously contacting said layer of suspension with dry wall surface of the incinerator whereby the continuous phase of the suspension is evaporated and the solid particles are sequentially dried and ignited within said incinerator, e. drawing exhaust gases from the rotary incinerator, and wet scrubbing said exhaust gases with water to remove particulate matter and to dissolve noxious gases present in said exhaust gases, and f. exhausting the resulting gases from step (e) to the atmosphere.

Claim 9

A process for incineration of waste solid propellant or explosive comprising the steps of: a. removing extraneous metal from said solid propellant or explosive feed material, b. grinding the substantially extraneous metal-free solid propellant or explosive in the presence of water, to form solid particles, substantially all of said particles having a (maximum) average dimension of less than 0.25 inch, c. mixing said water wet solid particles and additional water necessary to form an aqueous suspension of said solid particles in water, the weight ratio of water to said solid particles being from about 19:1 to about 1:1, d. introducing air, and the suspension of step (c) into one end of a rotary incinerator operating at a temperature of from about 1,200*F. to about 2,200*F., said suspension being fed at a rate sufficient to initially form a thin aqueous layer of said suspension on the walls of said incinerator, and continuously contacting said layer of suspension with dry wall surface of the incinerator whereby the continuous phase of the suspension is evaporated and the solid particles are sequentially dried and ignited within said incinerator, e. drawing exhaust gases from the rotary incinerator, and wet scrubbing said exhaust gases with water to remove particulate matter and to dissolve noxious gases present in said exhaust gases, and f. exhausting the resulting gases from step (e) to the atmosphere.

Claim 10

The process of claim 7 in which the exhaust gases from the rotary incinerator are drawn through a second incinerator prior to wet scrubbing, said second incinerator operating at a temperature of from about 1,200*F. to about 2,200*F., the residence time of said gases in said second incinerator being from about 0.3 seconds to about 0.5 seconds.

Claim 11

The process of claim 8 in which the weight ratio of water to said particulate propellant or explosive is about 3:1 and the solid particles have an average maximum dimension of about 0.10 inch.