United States
                                  Environmental Protection
                                  Agency
               EPA/540/F-94/509
               September 1994
                                  SUPERFUND INNOVATIVE
                                  TECHNOLOGY EVALUATION
                    Emerging  Technology  Bulletin

                               New Jersey Institute of Technology
                                        GHEA Associates Process
Technology Description: The GHEA Associates process
applies surfactants and additives to soil washing and wastewater
treatment to make organic and metal contaminants soluble (fig-
ure 1). The process components include a 25-gal extractor, solid-
liquid separation, rinse, mixer-settler, and ultrafiltration systems.
This technology can be applied to soil, sludges, sediments, slur-
ries, groundwater, surface water, end-of-pipe industrial effluents,
and in situ soil flushing. Contaminants that can be treated include
both organics and heavy metals, non-volatile and volatile  com-
pounds, and highly toxic refractory compounds.

In soil washing, soil is excavated, washed, and rinsed to produce
clean soil. Wash and rinse  liquids are combined and treated to
separate surfactants and contaminants from the water. Contami-
nants are separated from the surfactants by desorptton and are
isolated as a concentrate. Desorption regenerates the surfactants
for repeated use in the process. The liquid treatment consists of
a sequence of steps involving phase separation, ultrafiltration,
and air flotation. The treated water  meets all National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System groundwater discharge  criteria,
allowing it to  be 1) discharged without further treatment, and to
be 2) reused  in the process itself or reused as a source of high
quality water for other users.
In wastewater treatment applications,  surfactants added to the
wastewater adsorb contaminants. The  mixture is then treated in
the same manner as described above for 1) water purification, 2)
separation of the contaminants, and 3) recovery of the surfac-
tants. The process results in clean soil, clean water, and a highly
concentrated fraction of contaminants.

Project Description: The performance of the pilot plant was
tested on various PCS contaminated soil matrices, including soils
in excess of 30% clay. The tests consisted of parametric studies
of the extraction, solid-liquid separation,  rinse, and ultrafiltration
systems. The project objectives were to establish the operability
and mechanical  integrity of the pilot  system and to  generate
engineering  data for commercial scale-up. The  test runs were
performed with total recycle of the wash water and regenerated
surfactants.

Results: The  results of the treatability study show that the
GHEA  process was able to  meet New Jersey PCB cleanup
requirement of 2  mg\kg in soils with more than 50% silt and clay.
Bench  and  pilot-plant tests  were conducted on various soils
sludge and water samples (Table 1). Most of the samples were
from New Jersey sites which contain  petroleum hydrocarbons,
Contaminated
soil
Surfactant
Extraction
_J L_

Liquid
Rinse
fc,

Clean
soil


                                                Recycle
                                                                              Liquid
                             Recycle
                                   water
 Figure 1.  GHEA Process.
                                                                                           Printed on Recycled Paper

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aromatic  compounds, RGBs, coal tar,  heavy  metals, and oily
sludges. The soil samples typically contain fine silt and clay in the
25-50% range.

For Further Information:

EPA Project Manager:
Annette Gatchett
U.S. EPA Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory
26 West Martin Luther King Drive
Cincinnati, Ohio  45268
(513) 569-7697
                                                        Technology Developer Contact:

                                                        Dr. Itzhak Gotlieb
                                                        New Jersey Institute of Technology
                                                        Department of Chemical Engineering
                                                        Newark, NJ 07102
                                                        (201)569-5862
                                                        Fax (201)802-1946
Table 1. Summary of Treatability Test Results
           Matrix
                                         Untreated
                                          Sample
Treated
Sample
Percent
Removal
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC):
 TCE; 1,2 DCE; Benzene; Toluene

 Soil,ppm
 Water, ppb
                                           2013
                                           1090
 0.05
 2.5
 99.7%
 97.8%
Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH):
 Soil,ppm
Trinitrotoluene in Water (ppm)
                                        13,600
                                           180.0
 80
<0.08
 99.4%
Polychtorinated Biphenyls (PCBs):
Soil, ppm
Water, ppb

380.00 0.57
6000.0 <0.1

99.8%
>99.9%
                                                                                            >99.5%
Coal Tar Contaminated Soil (ppm)
Benzo[a]pyrene
Benzo[k]flouranthene
Chrysene
Benzanthracene
Pyrene
Anthracene
Phenanthrene
Fburene
Dibenzofuran
1-Methylnaphthalene
2-Methylnaphthalene
Heavy Metals in Soil:
Chromium (ppm)
Iron (III) in Water (ppm)

28.8 <0.1
24. 1 4.4
486 <0.1
376 <0.1
1242 <0.1
83.6 <0.1
2078 <0.1
927 <0.1
583 <0.1
883 1.3
1473 <0.1

21,000 640
30.8 0.3

>99.7%
81.2%
>99.8%
>99.7%
>99.9%
>99.8%
>99.9%
>99.9%
>99.8%
98.5%
>99.9%

96.8%
99.0%
United States
Environmental Protection Agency
Center for Environmental Research Information
Cincinnati, OH 45268

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                                                                                          PERMIT No. G-35
    EPA/540/F-94/509

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