Claims
- 1. A method of treating stainless steel bearing wastes in a plasma arc furnace which comprises the steps of:
- introducing a matrix former into the furnace so that the matrix former comprises at least 40% of the mass of the waste in the furnace;
- introducing iron or carbon steel into the furnace so that the mass of iron or carbon steel is at least equal to the mass of the stainless steel to be treated;
- melting the introduced materials in the furnace to produce a molten slag therefrom; and
- introducing stainless steel into the furnace at a controlled rate which results in the stainless steel becoming molten prior to coming into contact with any walls of the furnace while in solid form.
- 2. The method of claim 1 which comprises the further steps of:
- introducing additional stainless steel along with iron or carbon steel in a ratio of one part by weight of stainless steel to one part by weight of iron or carbon steel; and
- controlling the rate of introduction of the stainless steel to not exceed about 250 pounds per hour.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS
This application is a Divisional Application of Ser. No. 08/596,682 filed Feb. 5, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,731,564.
CONTRACTUAL ORIGIN OF THE INVENTION
This invention was made with United States Government support under Contract No. DE-AC22-88ID12735 awarded by the Department of Energy. The Government has certain rights in this invention.
US Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
4487628 |
Bjorling |
Dec 1984 |
|
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
596682 |
Feb 1996 |
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