Dieter A Knecht

US Patent:

6472579, Oct 29, 2002

Filed:

Nov 27, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/721963

Inventors:

Alexander G. Anshits - Krasnoyarsk, RU
Tatiana A. Vereshchagina - Krasnoyarsk, RU
Elena N. Voskresenskaya - Krasnoyarsk, RU
Eduard M. Kostin - Zheleznogorsk, RU
Vyacheslav F. Pavlov - Krasnoyarsk, RU
Yurii A. Revenko - Zheleznogorsk, RU
Alexander A. Tretyakov - Zheleznogorsk, RU
Olga M. Sharonova - Krasnoyarsk, RU
Albert S. Aloy - Saint-Petersburg, RU
Natalia V. Sapozhnikova - Saint-Petersburg, RU
Dieter A. Knecht - Idaho Falls ID
Troy J. Tranter - Idaho Falls ID
Yevgeny Macheret - Idaho Falls ID

Assignee:

The United States of America as represented by the Department of Energy - Washington DC

International Classification:

G21F 916

US Classification:

588 11, 588 2, 588252

Abstract:

Solidification of liquid radioactive waste, and other hazardous wastes, is accomplished by the method of the invention by incorporating the waste into a porous glass crystalline molded block. The porous block is first loaded with the liquid waste and then dehydrated and exposed to thermal treatment at 50-1,000Â C. The porous glass crystalline molded block consists of glass crystalline hollow microspheres separated from fly ash (cenospheres), resulting from incineration of fossil plant coals. In a preferred embodiment, the porous glass crystalline blocks are formed from perforated cenospheres of grain size -400+50, wherein the selected cenospheres are consolidated into the porous molded block with a binder, such as liquid silicate glass. The porous blocks are then subjected to repeated cycles of saturating with liquid waste, and drying, and after the last cycle the blocks are subjected to calcination to transform the dried salts to more stable oxides. Radioactive liquid waste can be further stabilized in the porous blocks by coating the internal surface of the block with metal oxides prior to adding the liquid waste, and by coating the outside of the block with a low-melting glass or a ceramic after the waste is loaded into the block.

US Patent:

6667261, Dec 23, 2003

Filed:

May 15, 2002

Appl. No.:

10/144984

Inventors:

Alexander G. Anshits - Krasnoyarsk, RU
Olga M. Sharonova - Krasnoyarsk, RU
Tatiana A. Vereshchagina - Krasnoyarsk, RU
Irina D. Zykova - Krasnoyarsk, RU
Yurii A. Revenko - Krasnoyarsk Region, RU
Alexander A. Tretyakov - Krasnoyarsk Region, RU
Albert S. Aloy - Saint-Petersburg, RU
Rem I. Lubtsev - Saint-Petersburg, RU
Dieter A. Knecht - Idaho Falls ID
Troy J. Tranter - Idaho Falls ID
Yevgeny Macheret - Idaho Falls ID

Assignee:

The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy - Washington DC

International Classification:

C04B 3808

US Classification:

501 80, 501155, 264 43, 264628, 264669, 264125

Abstract:

An open-cell glass crystalline porous material made from hollow microspheres which are cenospheres obtained from fly ash, having an open-cell porosity of up to 90 vol. % is produced. The cenospheres are separated into fractions based on one or more of grain size, density, magnetic or non-magnetic, and perforated or non-perforated. Selected fractions are molded and agglomerated by sintering with a binder at a temperature below the softening temperature, or without a binder at a temperature about, or above, the softening temperature but below the temperature of liquidity. The porous material produced has an apparent density of 0. 3-0. 6 g/cm , a compressive strength in the range of 1. 2-3. 5 MPa, and two types of openings: through-flow wall pores in the cenospheres of 0. 1-30 micrometers, and interglobular voids between the cenospheres of 20-100 micrometers. The porous material of the invention has properties useful as porous matrices for immobilization of liquid radioactive waste, heat-resistant traps and filters, supports for catalysts, adsorbents and ion-exchangers.

US Patent:

7115542, Oct 3, 2006

Filed:

Dec 11, 2003

Appl. No.:

10/748913

Inventors:

Troy J. Tranter - Idaho Falls ID, US
Dieter A. Knecht - Idaho Falls ID, US
Terry A. Todd - Aberdeen ID, US
Larry A. Burchfield - W. Richland WA, US
Alexander G. Anshits - Krasnoyarsk, RU
Tatiana Vereshchagina - Krasnoyarsk, RU
Alexander A. Tretyakov - Zheleznogorsk, RU
Albert S. Aloy - St. Petersburg, RU
Natalia V. Sapozhnikova - St. Petersburg, RU

Assignee:

The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy - Washington DC

International Classification:

B01J 20/22

US Classification:

502401, 502407, 502439

Abstract:

Hollow glass microspheres obtained from fly ash (cenospheres) are impregnated with extractants/ion-exchangers and used to remove hazardous material from fluid waste. In a preferred embodiment the microsphere material is loaded with ammonium molybdophosphonate (AMP) and used to remove radioactive ions, such as cesium-137, from acidic liquid wastes. In another preferred embodiment, the microsphere material is loaded with octyl(phenyl)-N-N-diisobutyl-carbamoylmethylphosphine oxide (CMPO) and used to remove americium and plutonium from acidic liquid wastes.

US Patent:

6444162, Sep 3, 2002

Filed:

Nov 27, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/721962

Inventors:

Alexander G. Anshits - Krasnoyarsk, RU
Olga M. Sharonova - Krasnoyarsk, RU
Tatiana A. Vereshchagina - Krasnoyarsk, RU
Irina D. Zykova - Krasnoyarsk, RU
Yurii A. Revenko - Zheleznogorsk, RU
Alexander A. Tretyakov - Zheleznogorsk, RU
Albert S. Aloy - Saint-Petersburg, RU
Rem I. Lubtsev - Saint-Petersburg, RU
Dieter A. Knecht - Idaho Falls ID
Troy J. Tranter - Idaho Falls ID
Yevgeny Macheret - Idaho Falls ID

Assignee:

The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy - Washington DC

International Classification:

C04B 3808

US Classification:

264628, 264 43, 264669, 264125, 501155

Abstract:

An open-cell glass crystalline porous material made from hollow microspheres which are cenospheres obtained from fly ash, having an open-cell porosity of up to 90 vol. % is produced. The cenospheres are separated into fractions based on one or more of grain size, density, magnetic or non-magnetic, and perforated or non-perforated. Selected fractions are molded and agglomerated by sintering with a binder at a temperature below the softening temperature, or without a binder at a temperature about, or above, the softening temperature but below the temperature of liquidity. The porous material produced has an apparent density of 0. 3-0. 6 g/cm , a compressive strength in the range of 1. 2-3. 5 MPa, and two types of openings: through-flow wall pores in the cenospheres of 0. 1-30 micrometers, and interglobular voids between the cenospheres of 20-100 micrometers. The porous material of the invention has properties useful as porous matrices for immobilization of liquid radioactive waste, heat-resistant traps and filters, supports for catalysts, adsorbents and ion-exchangers.