Fabrication and Testing for Solar Detoxification Project

Abstract : A demonstration of a solar detoxification system was conducted for the U.S. Army Environmental Center (USAEC) at Science Applications International Corporation's (SAIC's) test site near Golden, Colorado, in June 1997. The purpose of this demonstration test was to evaluate the use of solar energy for thermally detoxifying organic compounds representative of soil contamination found at U.S. Army sites. The demonstration test was carried out under the third of three tasks conducted under contract by SAIC. Under Tasks I and II, the conceptual and detailed design of a pilot-scale system was completed. Under Task III, fabrication and testing of the system were accomplished. This document presents the results obtained during the Task III demonstration test. The purpose of this demonstration test was to evaluate the use of solar energy to thermally detoxify organic compounds removed from contaminated media by ex situ (such as thermal desorption) or in situ (such as soil vapor extraction) treatment systems, or desorbed from pretreatment matrices (such as activated carbon). Extraction systems are commercially available so the step of directly extracting organic from contaminated soil was excluded from the pilot-scale demonstration. Rather, the pilot-scale demonstration test focused on evaluating ultraviolet (UV)-rich solar destruction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) by a solar incinerator and the environmental control of the resulting off gases.