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Chemical
weapons destruction is
serious business, requiring
equipment that meets stringent
regulations on performance
and reliability. This is
especially true for filtration
systems used at the end
of the incineration process.
A Denver,
CO builder of five such
incineration facilities,
chose CECO Filters' filter-in-vessel
systems for each facility
to provide the last filtering
stage of its incineration
process. Over half a million
rockets, bombs, mortars
and mines have been destroyed
using these systems.
The
CECO filters – each
measuring 2 ft. in diameter
by 20 ft. long and packed
24 to a reusable vessel – were
specified from the beginning
of the weapons elimination program.
In a typical destruction
procedure, the weapons are drained of their chemical
agent. Bigger devices, such as rockets, are chopped
into smaller pieces for delivery to the furnace.
The rocket pieces are mainly aluminum and fiberglass,
and have residual agent within their components.
These components must be held at 2000°F for fifteen
minutes in the furnace to completely burn-off and
destroy any remaining agent (this process is called "Five-X-ing").
The CECO filters process
gasses exiting the furnace.
Located in the pass filter system, they remove
particulate (mostly fine
particles of aluminum)
before delivery to the
smoke stacks. Flow rates
vary depending on components
being burned in the furnaces.
The
first incineration facility,
which went online in
the mid 1980's on a remote
Pacific island and is
now being dismantled, featured
three incineration systems,
each using 24 filters
installed in vessels. Filter
changes were done each
time there was a change
of chemical agent being
burned. CECO's Site-Pak
filter segments allow on-site
filter repack and reuse
by facility personnel,
eliminating the cost and
downtime incurred for
return to the manufacturer
for repacking.
The
CECO filters have efficiencies approaching 100%
for particles greater than
3 microns, and 99% for
particles less than 3 microns.
The filter-in-vessel system
is designed to eliminate emissions in a wide range
of industrial applications, and customization is
available to suit installation requirements.
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