Physical Properties Models for Simulation of Processes to Treat INEEL Tank Farm Waste: Thermodynamic Equilibrium

A status is presented of the development during FY2002 of a database for physical properties models for the simulation of the treatment of Sodium-Bearing Waste (SBW) at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. An activity coefficient model is needed for concentrated, aqueous, multi-electrolyte solutions that can be used by process design practitioners. Reasonable first-order estimates of activity coefficients in the relevant media are needed rather than an incremental improvement in theoretical approaches which are not usable by practitioners. A comparison of the Electrolyte Non-Random Two-Liquid (ENRTL) and Pitzer ion-interaction models for the thermodynamic representation of SBW is presented. It is concluded that Pitzer's model is superior to ENRTL in modeling treatment processes for SBW. The applicability of the Pitzer treatment to high concentrations of pertinent species and to the determination of solubilities and chemical equilibria is addressed. Alternate values of Pitzer parameters for HCl, H2SO4, and HNO3 are proposed, applicable up to 16m, and 12m, respectively. Partial validation of the implementation of Pitzer's treatment within the commercial process simulator ASPEN Plus was performed