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Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)
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      Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)


      Mission: Destroy Chemical Weapons Stockpile

      Vision: Chemical Weapons Free by 2023

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Pueblo Plant Readies 3rd Module to Process Hydrolysate

Published: December 4, 2019 | Category: PCAPP News, Technology
Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant Immobilized Cells Bioreactors are packed with media polyurethane foam cubes where microbes will reside. The microbes treat hydrolysate, the wastewater byproduct that results from the chemical agent neutralization process.

Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant Immobilized Cells Bioreactors are packed with media polyurethane foam cubes where microbes will reside. The microbes treat hydrolysate, the wastewater byproduct that results from the chemical agent neutralization process.

The Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant is preparing to increase its processing capacity by activating a third Immobilized Cell Bioreactor module.

“We have started to approach the maximum capacity of two ICBs when the plant is running really well,” said Dr. Patrick Sullivan, physical scientist and environmental manager, PCAPP.

Michael Abaie, Program Executive Officer, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives, made the decision this fall to prepare PCAPP’s third Immobilized Cell Bioreactor module for operation in the next month to handle an expected increase in throughput at the plant. Nicholas Stamatakis III, deputy PEO, made the announcement Oct. 30 to the Colorado Chemical Demilitarization Citizens’ Advisory Commission.

Dr. James Earley, chief scientist, PCAPP, said seeding of the ICB module with microbes will begin in December and take approximately four to six weeks to acclimate the biomass to the hydrolysate feed.

“This provides for additional hydrolysate treatment capacity and reduces risk associated with hydrolysate storage, allowing for much-needed maintenance work to be performed on the other two modules to maintain and improve system performance over the long term,” Earley said.

Hydrolysate is the caustic wastewater resulting from the plant’s process of chemical neutralization used to destroy mustard agent in aging Army munitions.

Following confirmation of agent destruction, hydrolysate is treated in the reaction tanks – aerobic, fixed-film bioreactors packed with 2-inch polyurethane foam cubes where biological organisms reside. Biomass to feed the reactors is sourced from local sewage plants, although Sullivan said the reactors would eventually propagate with bacteria from the air inside them.

PCAPP Technology Articles

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    Published: March 4, 2021
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    Published: February 10, 2021
  • Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant Automation Specialist Wendell Savage teaches the Training Facility robot about the new Drained Munition Weight Station. Later, the lessons were applied to the plant’s Munitions Washout System.

    Pueblo Plant Worker Instrumental in Campaign Success

    Published: February 2, 2021
  • Static Detonation Chamber Units Begin Testing

    Static Detonation Chamber Units Begin Testing

    Published: December 22, 2020
  • Workers Reconfigure Equipment for Next Destruction Campaign

    Workers Reconfigure Equipment for Next Destruction Campaign

    Published: November 30, 2020
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Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)