These incinerators were originally intended to destroy classified documents and have proved unsuitable and unreliable for burning other trash. Their design and operation are also relatively primitive in terms of operator interface and safety compared to modern incinerators available today. NAVSEA has a two-phase strategy for providing the Fleet with state-of-the-art thermal destruction capabilities. In the near term, a COTS-based advanced incinerator is being procured for laboratory and shipboard testing as a direct replacement for the current "MILSPEC" incinerator on large ships. This incinerator will be capable of burning the entire range of solid wastes encountered on Navy ships, but it will not be able to process the entire waste stream volume because its capacity will be limited by the size of the shipboard spaces already devoted to MILSPEC incinerators. The Advanced Incinerator will have a higher degree of monitoring, automation, and safety than the current model and will require less manning. Assuming that a COTS or modified-COTS incinerator proves successfrl, the Navy will be able to specify new incinerators for existing and new large-deck ships. This first opportunity to systematically test a commercial incinerator in a Navy laboratory and on a Navy ship will also provide valuable data for other platforms that may be interested in incineration options.
NAVSEA's longer-term solution for shipboard solid waste management rests on the development of a plasma-arc thermal destruction system. This high-temperature (5,000℃), high-efficiency process uses an electrically-powered plasma torch to completely break down organic materials and melt/vitrify inorganic materials. The substantially increased chemical kinetics offers the promise of reduced size and air emissions. The plasma-arc system will accominodate large variations in waste stream volume and composition and will be sealeable for ships of different sizes. The plasma-arc thermal destruction system will be targeted initially at the Navy's largest waste-generating ships, its aircraft carriers and amphibious ships, and perhaps at large support ships. This is currently a high-risk 6.3 Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) because of the significant technical challenges that must be addressed, including waste preprocessing, rapid startup/shutdown capability, effects of platform motion (slag management), and materials selection. Preliminary laboratory testing will investigate the prospects for also destroying concentrated liquid wastes. In the future, this might be achieved, for example, by equipping the secondary combustion chamber with a fuel supply and vortex combustion to operate when not processing solid wastes. If successfirl, the plasma-arc ATD will transition to 6.4 Demonstration and Validation in FY02. Unlike the advanced incinerator, plasma-arc thermal destruction systems are not envisioned as backfit options.
Submarines will have to cease discharging plastics by the end of 2008 in accordance with the same law that banned plastics discharge fiom ships at the end of 1998. The PWP developed by the Navy for surface ships is not suitable for submarines primarily because of its size, manpower requiremen, ship services required, and heat release. A submarine-unique solution is needed for volume reduction and sanitary storage of plastics waste for the very long periods that submarines are deployed. A submarine plastics management system is being developed that uses submarines existing Trash Compactors to comiress plastics into special thick-walled odor-barrier plastic bags that are then heat sealed and stored in specially-prepared spaces. Because of space and, arrengement variations among different classes of submarines (SSN 688. SSBN 726, and SSN 21), unique space modifications are required for each class. A submarine from each class will undergo a TEMPALT for its class-specific modifications and the new plastics management processes will be evaluated at sea.
