MSE owns and operates the Mike Mansfield Advanced Technology Center (MMATC) situated on a 53-acre site in Butte, Montana. The facility is nationally known and a recognized, premier testing site with equipment and systems available to test components, equipment, and energy/material handling systems ranging from bench-scale apparatus through engineering-scale demonstrations and full-scale equipment development. Originally, the facility was the U.S. DOE Western Environmental Technology Office (WETO). MSE managed the facility from its inception and successfully privatized it in 1996. In 2002, it was renamed the Mike Mansfield Advanced Technology Center.

 

From this facility, we research, develop, test, and apply government-sponsored programs and commercial projects in waste treatment, environmental remediation, advanced materials, energy conservation, and other innovative technology areas. We also develop, test, and apply new technologies to treat contaminated surface and ground waters and soils using biological, chemical, and physical methods.

Our testing site houses a variety of facilities to meet your needs.

Test Areas: The MSE test facility contains test areas that can be configured for hands-on or remote operation and monitoring. The facility also contains a machine shop, a fabrication shop, shipping and receiving capability, and warehousing and storage functions to accommodate projects of varying size and scope.

 

Bench-scale to pilot-scale to full-scale testing: Originally configured as an engineering-scale test facility, the infrastructure of our test and evaluation areas is highly capable and highly adaptable to configuration for varied-scale testing.

 

Portable Unit : Our facilities also include various demonstration portable units that can be used for off-site demonstrations or treatability studies.

 

We also have pilot-scale demonstration trailers and skid-mounted processes for various on-site demonstration capabilities. These trailers and other skid-mounted processes allow us to perform various on-site, pilot-scale demonstrations for customers.

 

Component Test Building, Including Test Areas: A high bay steel structure that currently houses thermal waste treatment technologies for demonstration. The structure has reinforced concrete floors and is designed to withstand equipment loads as well as blast, magnetic, and thermal expansion forces resulting from test operation. A reinforced concrete blast wall for personnel protection is in place between the component test building and the operations and services building. Walls on the other three sides of the component test building consist of a metal blowout wall-panel system.

 

Two test bays comprise a 90- by 100-foot area of the building and are equipped with a 10-ton overhead crane. The structure contains a pit that is 90 feet long, 25 feet wide, and 25 feet deep with 3-foot-thick concrete walls, which is accessed by two stairways.

 

Coal and Seed Preparation Building: This multilevel, 26,600 square-foot building houses equipment to process coal and transport dry materials using nitrogen as the transport medium. Railroad access is available to the building as well as to a 50,000 square-foot concrete laydown pad.

 

Operations and Services Building: This building is a two-story steel structure adjoining a low-bay, one-story steel structure with a total area of 25,500 square-feet.

 

Analytical Laboratory : This 5,194 square-foot steel building currently houses our analytical laboratory. The lab provides tailored services ranging from evaluating and remediating Superfund sites or analyzing drinking water in a well.

 

Fabrication and Weld Center: This 12,000 square-foot steel structure is for fabrication and assembly. The building is structurally designed and configured to accommodate a crane; an automatic sprinkler system provides fire protection for the building.

 

Machine Shop: This metal building contains 5,000 square-foot of floor space. It houses welding equipment, an air compressor, several lathes, mills, a gun drill, presses, and other typical machine shop equipment intended for nonproduction work.

 

Yard Facilities: Railroad access is available to the facility. A concrete storage area, adjacent to the railroad spur, covers approximately 1 acre. Stormwater runoff from this area drains to a collection basin. All facility roads are designed to support an axle load of 18,000 pounds with an average daily traffic of 400 vehicles. An on-site water distribution loop has been constructed with two separate water supply systems.

 

Facility Testing Focus

• Thermal Treatment of Hazardous and Mixed Wastes
• Metal Spraying
• Heavy Metal Control
• Combustion Technologies
• Ultra-High Pressure Testing

Support System Capabilities

• Cryogenic Nitrogen Systems
• Cooling/Process Water
• Offgas Cleanup
• Wastewater Treatment/Discharge System
• Dry Material Feed System
• Solid Waste Handling
• Holding Ponds

Technology Testing: We have tested many types and sizes of technologies over years:

• Underground Barrier Technology–application of passive, reactive, and biological underground barriers for containment and treatment of subsurface contamination.
• Thermal Spray Technology–application of thermal spray technology for prototyping and coating replacement.
• Plasma Furnace Technology–remediation of hazardous and pyrotechnic materials.
• Heap Leach Cyanide Removal–assessments of various biological processes for remedial treatment of gold heap leach piles.
• Remote site treatment of acid mine drainage at inaccessible locations and without electrical power.
• Source Control Technology–use of expandable closed-cell grout to seal subsurface fractures and reduce water infiltration and acid mine drainage.
• Sulfate Reducing Bacteria–treating acid mine drainage with naturally occurring bacteria to precipitate heavy metals as metal sulfide.
• Innovative Chemical Precipitation–use of innovative and proprietary chemical precipitation processes for treatment of arsenic; selenium; thallium; cyanide; and nitrate-containing water.
• Flue gas treatment technologies for removal of high concentrations of NOx and unburned hydrocarbons.
• Fenton's reagent and sonic-ozonation technologies for oxidation of radioactive contaminated sludge at INL.

 

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