APE 1236 DEACTIVATION FURNACE

TM 9-1300-277

contamination prior to reuse or transfer to the Defense

meltout process installed at Ravenna AAP for removing

Property Disposal Officer or to Inert Storage Area.

TNT and Comp B loads from 90mm and 155mn

Certification of scrap metal should be made in

projectiles. This meltout process applies steam only to

accordance with DOD 4160.21-M-1.

the outside of a munition in a steam cabinet.

6-7. APE 1236 DEACTIVATION FURNACE

c. This facility also has a number of steam

cabinets for 5-inch and smaller items. These items are

placed vertically, open-end down on racks in the

a. Small

explosive

items

are

normally

cabinet, and surrounded with steam until the explosive

demilitarized in the deactivation furnace. The APE

melts and runs out. There are no jets into the munitions.

1236 Deactivation Furnace is a steel rotary kiln having

an overall length of 30 feet and a diameter of four feet

(figs. 6-4 through 6-6). The main body is a horizontal

d. There is minimal water discharge from this

retort (four 60 inch sections bolted end to end) with side

facility. Most of the steam condensate evaporates from

walls about 2-1/4 inches thick and with a spiral internal

the corrugated pans.

The discharge is mostly

element which acts like a screw conveyor in moving

washdown. There is a major problem in that TNT steam

materials through the unit as the retort slowly rotates.

distills overhead and deposits TNT in the overhead

Newer models have center retort sections with walls 3-

ductwork which/must be manually cleaned periodically.

1/4 inches thick in order to process individual munitions

containing 800 grains of explosive.

The furnace

e. The explosives removal mechanism relies

provides the capability for thermal destruction of

primarily upon the melting action of the hot steam, and

explosives contained in small arms ammunition,

there is little or no erosive action. Consequently, the

primers, fuzes, and boosters. In addition, the furnace

process is best for TNT and less effective for fills with a

may be utilized for flashing 75mm through 120mm

high percentage of non-meltable components such as

projectiles after washout of explosive charge. Items

RDX, HMX, or aluminum. The process is superior for

such as small arms ammunition, artillery fuzes, emptied

TNT because the steam vapor expands to fill even the

20mm cartridge cases, and the like are fed to the

most irregular cavity and gives better heat transfer than

furnace at a predetermined rate prescribed for each

hot water which must be in direct contact with the

item via a steel conveyor belt which carries them high

explosive in order to melt it. It has another advantage in

above the mouth of the furnace and drops them down a

that the only wastewater it steam condensate, and that

chute into the feed end of the rotating retort. An oil or

is evaporated in the dewatering step, so that there is

gas fired burner in the discharge end of the tube

minimal wastewater disposal problem. However, this is

provides a flame and hot flue gases, which sweep

a time-consuming, manual process.

through the retort and up a stack mounted over the feed

end. The temperature at the burner end is about

f. It should also be noted that, in spite of the

1200 ; it is about 600-900 in the middle sections and

feeling that steamout is effectively limited to TNT fills,

about 400-500 at the stack end.

Crane AAA has successfully applied it to H-6, Tritonal,

and HBX. Nevertheless, a study done by Battelle for the

b. As the items being demilitarized are carried

Western Demilitarization Facility recommended that it

through the retort by the spiral element, explosives burn

be considered mainly for TNT filler.

or detonate as they reach their burning or initiation

temperatures.

The furnace operating speeds are

g. Although it cannot be considered a widely used

adjusted so that this happens approximately in the

process, there are steamout facilities at Hawthorne AAP,

center of the retort. After explosion or burning, the

McAlester AAP, NWS Yorktown, NTS Keyport, Joliet

items progress on through the 1200 section and fall

AAP, Cornhusker AAP, Newport AAP, and Pine Bluff

out the discharge end onto another conveyor which

Arsenal (for white phosphorus). There is also a related

carries the now-inert metal parts to a

Change 1

6-7