Specialty System Designed for Decommissioning Old Bombs for the US Military

Project No 1106

The Challenge

Epcon was tasked with developing a Decontamination System for the Government to decommission old bombs. This high-temperature furnace, in heating principle and design, was somewhat similar to a Spheroidizing Furnace. The furnace had to operate between 1200 to 1400°F and withstand continual batch loads of 150,000 pounds of bombshells. In addition, because of the residual explosive charge in the bomb shells, it was imperative that the heating system was very safe, such as steam or indirect heat and the source had to be far away from the decontamination chamber.

The Solution

Epcon proposed a decontamination Chamber and thermal oxidizer with 2 sets of heat exchangers. Primary heat and secondary heat exchangers.  A solution that “kills 3 birds with one stone” ; thermal decontamination , indirect heat, pollution control solution.

The system manufactured was an indirect heating system to ensure there was no flame in the proximately of the system.  The indirect heat is supplied by an Oxidizer, which is located outdoors (wherein the furnace is indoors) approximately 75 – 100 feet away from the source. The system consists of a thermal decontamination Chamber, car bottom type) located inside the building and the pollution control device sitting far way. The exhausted from the decontamination chamber ducted to the thermal oxidizer. The design features and the controls because of the nature of the explosives, was extraordinary. No single manufacturer in the industry could have supplied this kind of equipment.

The Results

This project complied with all government requirements for the critical nature of the work, while ensuring maximum safety.