ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Words cannot explain my gratitude to the Almighty for countless blessings showered
upon me in completing this seminar report successfully.

I wish to thank firstly, Mr Unni Kartha G., Professor and Head of the Civil Engineering
Department for being a caring leader to all of us.

I owe sincere and heartfelt thanks to my seminar guide, Mr. Jawahar Saud S., Assistant
Professor Department of Civil Engineering, for his timely guidance and helpful tips,
which helped me immensely to complete this seminar.

I express my profound and sincere thanks to my Group Advisors Ms .Rinu J Achison,

Ms Raja Lakshmi T.R, Mrs Minu Mary Thomas.

We are grateful for the encouragement and help received from the Civil Engineering
Department of FISAT. Above all we thank God Almighty who had given us this
opportunity to complete this work.
Finally I would like to thank my parents, who provided enough support to carry out this
work successfully.

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 ABSTRACT

Vitrification is a Waste immobilization technique that prevents the free movement of

contaminants in waste. Vitrification is currently used to immobilize high level
radioactive waste which is more effective and environmental friendly. Vitrification
provides maximum volume reduction of waste by application of heat that ranges from
1,100 to 1400◦C.When the contaminated soil is melted; contaminants are surrounded by
molten soil. As the molten soil cools it forms a solidified mass of waste glass that
incorporates the waste either through chemical bonding or through encapsulation.

Durability tests of vitrified products were performed on the in-situ vitrification and the
results found that vitrified products is so stable, cost effective and causes large volume
reduction of waste. Environmental Protection Agency has declared vitrification to be the
‘‘best demonstrated available technology’’ for heavy metals and high-level radioactive
waste.

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 CONTENTS
Title PageNo
1. Introduction 1
1.1. General 1
1.2. Need of Remediation Technologies 2
1.3. Types of Remediation Technologies 2
1.3.1. Containment 3
1.3.2. Solidification and Stabilization 4
1.3.3. Vitrification 5
2. Vitrification 6
2.1. Description 6
2.2. Background 6
2.3. Applicability 8
2.3.1. Soils 8
2.3.2. Types of Contaminants 8
2.3.3. Waste Streams 8
3. Types of Vitrification 9
3.1. In-situ Vitrification 11
3.2. Ex-situ vitrification 13
4. Steps in Vitrification Process 15
5. Case study 1 conducted at Trombay 18
6. Case study 2 in Hanford Vit plant 20
7. Advantages of Vitrification 22
7.1. Stability and Durability 22
7.2. Volume Reduction 22
7.3. Cost Effectiveness 23
7.4. Other Advantages 23
8. Limitations and Disadvantages of Vitrification 24
9. Conclusions 25
10. References 26

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 LIST OF TABLES

Table No. Title Page No.

1.1 Types of Waste and Disposal Options 1

iv
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure No. Title Page No.

1.3.1.1 Types of Containment Systems 4

2.2.1 Illustration of Vitrification 8
2.2.2 Difference between Frozen and Vitrification 9
3.1.1 In-situ Vitrification 12
3.1.2 In-situ Plasma Vitrification 13
3.2.1 Vortex Vitrification System 14
4.1 Conversion of materials in vitrification process 16
5.1 Process schematic for Vitrification 19
6.1 Flow chart of vitrification process performed in Vit plant 21