NCD980602163_19920301_Warren County PCB Landfill_SERB C_US-EPA A Citizen's Guide to How Innovative Treatment Technologies Are Being Successfully Applied at Superfund Sites-OCR

&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
EP A/542/F-92/002
March 1992
A Citizen's Guide To How
Innovative Treatment Technologies
Are Being Successfully Applied At
Superfund Sites
Technology Innovation Office Technology Fact Sheet
What Are Innovative
Treatment Technologies?
Treatment technologies are
processes applied to the
treatment of hazardous waste or
contaminated materials, such as
soils, sludges, sediments and
debris, to permanently alter their
condition through chemical,
biological, or physical means.
Technologies that have been
tested, selected or used for
treatment of hazardous waste or
contaminated materials but lack
well-documented cost and
performance data under a variety
of operating conditions are called
innovative treatment
technologies.
Innovative treatment
technologies have been used
successfully at some
contaminated waste sites around
the country.
They are used as an alternative to
merely containing the hazardous
substances on site or in a
hazardous waste landfill that is
designed and operated under the
Federal Resource Conservation
Recovery Act (RCRA)
regulations. Today, treatment
technologies are being tailored to
deal with specific hazardous
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Table 1
Descriptions Of Some Innovative Treatment Technologles
Bloremedlatlon: uses microorganisms, such as bacteria, to break down organic contaminants into harmless substances.
Solvent Extraction: separates hazardous organic contaminants from oily-type wastes, soils, sludges, and sediments,
reducing the volume of hazardous waste that must be treated.
In Situ Soll Flushing: an in situ (in place) process that floods contaminated soils in the subsurface with a washing
solution to flush out the contaminants.
Soll Washing: uses water or a washing solution and mechanical processes to scrub excavated soils and remove
hazardous contaminants.
Thermal Desorption: heats soil at relatively low temperatures to vaporize contaminants with low boiling points.
Vaporized contaminants are then captured and can be removed for further treatment or destruction.
Glycolate Dehalogenatlon: uses a chemical reagent (a substance used to read with and change another
substance) to change the structure of certain contaminants, thereby rendering them less hazardous.
Air Sparglng: injects air into the saturated zone (that part of the subsurface that is soaked with ground water) to
remove hazardous contaminants.
contaminants. (See EPA's A Citizen's Guide to
Innovative Treatment Technologies for
Contaminated Soils, Sludges, Sediments and
Debris for further information on innovative
treatment technologies).
Table 1 above lists some innovative treatment
technologies and contains a brief description of
each.
Why Does EPA Use These Technologies?
When Superfund began cleaning up contaminated
waste sites ten years ago, land disposal
technologies were the common method to dispose
of hazardous waste. As concerns for safety of the
environment increased, EPA worked to design
safer landfills and passed new restrictions on
landfill disposal. Simultaneously, the Superfund
Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA)
was passed, which directs EPA to carry out
research, development and demonstration of
innovative treatment technologies and to
emphasize selection or application of innovative
treatment technologies in site clean-up. EPA
believes that, whenever possible, innovative
treatment technologies should be routinely
considered as an option in addition to the
2
established remedies of land disposal,
incineration, and solidificatior_11stabilization.
Innovative treatment technologies may offer:
• Permanent solutions to hazardous waste
problems
• The potential for more effective performance
• The potential for lower cost solutions
• The potential for a better and more efficient
clean-up than established technologies
• Possible greater community acceptance.
For these reasons, EPA encourages the use of
innovative treatment technologies.
Where Have These Technologies Been
Successfully Applied?
Records of Decision (RODs) chronicle for public
information EPA's selection of the most
appropriate clean-up actions for a Superfund site.
These RODs indicate that, since the enactment of
SARA in 1986, EPA's use of innovative treatment
technologies has increased steadily. At Superfund
sites where treatment was employed as a
component of the clean-up, selection of
innovative treatment technologies increased from
26 percent in fiscal year (FY) (October -
September) 1987 to 40 percent in FY 1988 to 51
percent in FY 1989, and to 58 percent in FY 1990.
To determine the overall success of these
technologies, EPA needs to obtain more cost and
performance data in a variety of operating
conditions. Listed below are descriptions of three
sites where different innovative treatment
technologies have been successfully applied:
Wide Beach Development
Wide Beach Development is a 55-acre suburban
development of 60 homes located approximately
35 miles south of Buffalo, New York. At this site,
chemical treatment was used to treat 40,000 tons
of soil contaminated with polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs). These 40,000 tons consisted of
the top 18 inches of soil on a mile and a half of
roads. The contaminated soil was dug up and
placed in a mobile treatment unit that was brought
onto the site. The contaminated soil was heated
and treated with chemicals to destroy the PCBs.
The benefits of using this innovative technology,
as opposed to using an established technology,
such as incineration or land disposal, are
significl;lllt. The PCBs in the soil were destroyed
and, since the contaminated soil was treated on
site, the community surrounding the Wide Beach
development was protected from any potential
transportation problems.
Verona Well Fleld
At the Verona Well Field, approximately 1/2 mile
northeast of Battle Creek, Michigan, vacuum
extraction is being used to treat soil contaminated
with chlorinated solvents. Extraction wells were
installed directly into the contaminated soil, which
allowed the contaminants to be transferred into an
air stream. The air stream was then treated to
remove and destroy the contaminants through
either carbon adsorption or vapor incineration,
depending upon various economic and engineering
considerations at the site. When carbon
3
adsorption was used, the air stream was passed
through carbon filters to collect the contaminants,
which were then incinerated. When vapor
incineration was used, the air stream was forced
into a treatment vessel where it was incinerated.
Vacuum extraction and concurrent treatment have
been effective in destroying 90,000 pounds of
contaminants. This is equivalent to 450 fifty-five
gallon barrels. The contaminants were removed
without disturbing the soil and, most importantly,
without exposing the community to additional
risks. A hazardous waste manager at the site
remarked that, "at the Verona well field site, the
vacuum extraction process has proven to be safe
and effective for both the community and the
environment."
cannon Engineering Corporation
Thermal desorption was used at the Cannon
Engineering Corporation site in Plymouth,
Massachusetts to treat soil contaminated with
volatile organic compounds and semivolatile
organic compounds. Thermal desorption uses heat
to physically separate the soil from the
contaminants, which then require further
treatment. At this site, thermal desorption was
applied ex situ, which means the contaminated soil
was excavated prior to treatment. This technology
can also be applied using an in situ technique,
which means keeping the soil in place. This
technology used a direct heating method that
resulted in heating the contaminated soil at
relatively low temperatures (200-1000°F),
allowing the contaminants to vaporize and
separate from the soil. The evaporated
contaminants and dust particles were corµined in
an air stream, which was treated to meet
applicable local, State, and Federal standards.
(Direct heating is one of four extraction methods
that can be used with thermal desorption.)
Thermal desorption effectively treated 871 cubic
yards (11,330 tons) of contaminated soil at the
Cannon Engineering site, which is comparable to
670 truck loads of soil. The process began in May
1990 and was completed five months later in
October 1990. With this technology, cleanup
goals for the site were not only met, but exceeded.
In addition, the property was restored so that, once
again, it can be put to commercial or industrial
use.
How Is EPA Encouraging The Use Of
Innovative Treatment Technologies?
The mission of EPA's Technology Innovation
Office (TIO) is to increase the government's and
industry's application of innovative treatment
technologies to contaminated waste sites. The
Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation
(SITE) program sponsors field studies to obtain
the information needed about an innovative
treatment technology's effectiveness under
varying conditions. The SITE program and TIO
share the resulting information with Federal
agencies, States, consulting engineering firms,
responsible parties, technology developers, and
the investment community.
NOTICE: This fact sheet is intended solely as general guidance and information. It is not intended, nor can it be relied upon, IO create any rights enforceable by any
party in litigation with the United States. The Agency also reserves the right IO chan(le this guidance at any tme without pvblic notice.
4 •u.s. Government Printing Office: t 992 -648-080/60002