Projects we have completed for clients from the Hanford Vit Plant to Westinghouse Electric Co.
Westinghouse
ChemCorr, LLC received a contract from Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, Pittsburgh, PA, in February 2009. OLI Software and other models were used to model laboratory data on prospective coolant systems. The modeling served both to evaluate the laboratory data and provide a basis for interpolating and extrapolating it to process conditions not accessible in the laboratory. The work is ongoing and the results are being evaluated.
Subsequent work for Westinghouse provided an assessment of the possible solid phases that could be present at equilibrium on a corroding surface in an operating reactor. Potential-pH (Pourbaix) diagrams served to identify the operating conditions that resulted in the observed corrosion and means of preventing the corrosion in the future.
Hanford Waste Treatment Plant
ChemCorr, LLC received a contract in 2010 from the engineering team responsible for designing and constructing the plant that is to treat radioactive, corrosive waste from processing nuclear materials. A reliable model of the treatment process will be critical for the safe and reliable operation of the plant. OLI chemical equilibrium modeling software was used to model properties measured for simulated wastes and the products of treatment. Many of the measured properties were reproduced accurately by the models. However, some key parameters could not be reconciled with thermodynamic data from other sources. A strategy was recommended for using additional data to develop empirical parameters to describe the behavior of metastable species in the waste treatment process.
Water Management for Fracking
ChemCorr, LLC teamed with a research group in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado State University to develop a GIS-based Oil Field Management (OFM) tool for produced water. ChemCorr, LLC integrated the OLI chemical equilibrium model into the OFM tool framework to allow chemical equilibrium calculations to be made for each well and for combinations of wells. The chemistry management tool can evaluate analytical data and predict the outcome of treatment and disposal options. The calculations from this model can then be used as design criteria for treatment train definition, based on the desired water disposal outcome. Development continues on the computer program and on the models for potential processes for treating and using the water.