NCD980602163_19820902_Warren County PCB Landfill_SERB C_Re Biodecontamination of soils-OCR

WARREN COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT
540 WEST RIDGEWAY STRE ET
WARRENTON, NORTH CAROLINA 27589
TELEPHONE [phone]
September 2, 1982
Mr. James H. Scarbrough
Chief of Residuals Managemeijt Branch
U.S. Environmental Protect.i on Agency
345 Courtland Street
Atlanta, Georgia 30365
Dear Mr. Scarbrough:
In keeping with my responsibility t o protect the> h2;:11_t h of the
citizens of Warren County, we are pursui ng the concept o f the
detoxification of the PCB contaminated soils that are to be
placed in the landfill near the Afton CcUDI1enity. These con-
taminants will come from the shoulders of 210 miles of North
Carolina Highways in 14 counties and the Fort Bragg Mi litary
Reservation.
We are confident that if the technology is no t now available,
it soon will be forthcoming, wh i ch will pr ovide fo r the decon-
tamination of the PCBs to be stored in the complet ed landf ill.
Si nce funds are being provided to r emove the co ntaminated soils
from all the effected counties in North Carol i na and place them 10
the landfill in Warren County, it certainly i s reasonable to
expect that additional funds should be provi ded to de toxify t he
contru.uinated soils that will be stored in Warren County. If this
is done, it will indeed bring relief to the fears and anxieties
that now grip the minds of our citizens .
In discussing this ~tter with Messrs. Smith and Hanke, they
expressed a willingness to explore the feasibi:ity uf detox~fi-
cation in the landfill either by biodegr adation or chemical means.
Therefore, we are enclosing a copy of a letter from the Polybac
Corporation which proposes the biodegradati on approach. As soon
as further de tails in this regard are received, we will forwa r d
them to your office.
: I
In behalf of the Board ~f Health and the citiz~~s of Warren County ,
I express 'deep appreciation for your consideration and help with
this highly emotional and crucial matter.
~nclosure
9
Sincerely,
tf/U'~ /4
J o~h S. Lennon
1 Health Direc tor
cc: Albert R. Hanke, Jr., Project Officer
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Mr. Joe Lennon
Warren County Health Dept.
540 W. Ridgeway Street
Warrenton, N. C. 27589
Dear Joe :
August 27, 1982
The following is a generalized approach that Polybac Corporation
and SCA Chemical Services woul d undertake as a joint venture to
biodecontaminate the PCB contamina ted soil in the Warren County
landfill site.
Assuming the landfill site is ami able to @mpurging/l eachate re-
covery system , we wo uld use the POLYDETOX .process .
This process i s used to decontaminate soils or strata which are
not accessible from the surface . It involves the aqueous l eaching
of contaminants from the soil matri x with the approp riate surfac-
tants for treatment at the surface and within the soil mat rix . This
p rocess uses specialized microo rganisms in highly e fficient biolog i-
cal trea tme nt units to facilitate biodegradation of the contaminates.
From past experience with this system the time frame would be a min-
imum of 12 months for the 1 .5 acre impoundment 25 feet in depth. The
unit or units would be placed around the soil impoundment with the
appropriate piping and pumping systems . These systems would recircu-
l ate the contaminated leachate from the soil impoundment through the
treatment units and reapply the treated leachate into the irnpoundment.
An approximate cost f or this project would range between $300,000 to
$1 ,000,000 for the in-situ treatment of the PCB 's .
The laboratory protocol for the PCB analysis will be forth coming
from the outside lab. I will keep you posted as to the demonstrati o n
project status.
NAN/jak
cc: Jim Marshall
SCA Chemical Services
Best regards,
)l 0 . J )c,__.,_~l
N. A. Nassef, P .E.
Remedial C\eanup Manager
A Subsidiary of CYTOX COR PORATION