United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Research and Development
Risk Reduction
Engineering Laboratory
Cincinnati, Ohio 45268
EPA/540/S2-91/010 Aug. 1991
Project Summary
Survey of Materials-Handling
Technologies Used at Hazardous
Waste Sites
Majid Dosani and John Miller
The objective of this study was to
summarize the types of debris, mate-
rial, and contaminants found at Super-
fund and other hazardous waste sites
and the materials-handling equipment
and general procedures used to per-
form site restoration and cleanup. The
intent of this report is to provide the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) with information on state-of-the-
art materials-handling equipment and
procedures that would be useful for
addressing difficult, site-specific mate-
rials-handling problems.
The following factors affect the se-
lection of equipment and procedures
for materials handling at hazardous
waste sites:
Type and quantity of contaminated
materials present
Amount and type of contaminants
on site
Type of removal or remedial action
selected (capping, excavating,
pumping, etc.)
Treatment process used on site
General site characteristics (soil
type and moisture, topography, cli-
mate)
The full report includes information
concerning the capabilities, perfor-
mance, and applicability of a variety of
materials-handling equipment and pro-
cedures at various hazardous waste
sites and the cost of their implementa-
tion. Case studies for 22 sites distrib-
uted throughout all 10 EPA Regions
have also been included to provide de-
tailed information concerning the de-
bris, material, and contaminants found
on site; the specific materials-handling
needs; and the problems encountered.
Because of the diversity of the de-
bris, material, and contaminants found
on Superfund and other hazardous
waste sites, each site must be evalu-
ated individually to select and imple-
ment materials-handling equipment and
procedures. To date, adequate pub-
lished information concerning the de-
bris and material handled is not available
for EPA personnel and response con-
tractors. Although attempts have been
made to categorize the debris and ma-
terial present onsite, this report repre-
sents the first attempt to compile
information regarding materials-han-
dling equipment and techniques that
have been implemented at hazardous
waste sites. Quantity estimates would
be helpful to response contractors and
EPA personnel for estimating the cost
of equipment operations.
This Project Summary was devel-
oped by EPA's Risk Reduction Engi-
neering Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH, to
announce key findings of the research
project that is fully documented in a
separate report of the same title (see
Project Report ordering information at
back).
Introduction
Superfund and other hazardous waste
sites in the United States contain many
different types of materials that require
physical separation, classification, and de-
contamination. These various materials are
often contaminated with hazardous chemi-
cal residues. In some instances, however,
Printed on Recycled Paper
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although a material found onsite contains
no hazardous substance, it still must be
handled or disposed of offsite.
Atypical Suporfund or other hazardous
waste site contains hazardous chemicals
that are frequently mixed with the rem-
nants of razed structures (wood, steel, con-
crete blocks); municipal and/or industrial
solid wastes; metallic debris (refrigerators,
abandoned cars, drums, transformer cas-
ings); and contaminated soils, sludges, and
liquids. Materials-handling and classifying
technologies are needed to deal with the
large quantities of these various materials
prior to, or in conjunction with, their decon-
tamination and disposal.
Materials-handling procedures also may
bo required for other types of activities that
occur at a hazardous waste site. Site prepa-
ration may require the use of heavy equip-
ment to build access roads, containment
trenches, or concrete decontamination
pads. Pretreatment processes requiring
materials-handling techniques (screening,
siza reduction, dewatering ) may be nec-
essary before a remedial treatment tech-
nology Is applied. Many sites are not
concerned with cleanup but are instead,
construction projects involved with the build-
ing of treatment facilities or new wells for
dealing with groundwater contamination of
unknown origin. Such projects may require
a variety of materials-handling equipment
and procedures not normally encountered
during cleanup operations (e.g., the laying
of pipe or deep-well excavation techniques).
Because published information concern-
Ing materials handling at hazardous waste
sites is sparse, an engineering and eco-
nomic analysis is needed to develop a
data base for EPA personnel and response
contractors searching for equipment or pro-
cedures to address difficult materials-han-
dling problems.
Debris/Materials Found at
Hazardous Waste Sites
Debris can be defined as any unused,
unwanted, or discarded solid or liquid that
requires staging, loading, transporting, pre-
treating, treatment, and/or disposal on a
hazardous waste site. The amount of de-
bris occurring on hazardous waste sites is
estimated to range from less than 1% to
greater than 80% of the total waste found
on site. In addition to debris, other materi-
als (e.g., soil, sludge, asbestos, and vari-
ous liquids) must also be handled. A
comprehensive listing, including both de-
bris and other materials that require spe-
cial materials handling, can be presented
in the following 12 general categories:
Textiles Wood/vegetation
Glass Construction debris
Paper Soil
Metal Sludge
Plastic Liquids
Rubber Asbestos
For this study, information from 100
hazardous waste sites in all 10 EPA Re-
gions was reviewed to learn the frequency
of occurrence of debris or materials that
required material handling. The materials
most commonly requiring handling are con-
taminated soil, liquids, and metals (drums,
scrap, etc.).
Equipment Used at Hazardous
Waste Sites
Information from these 100 hazardous
waste sites was reviewed to obtain a pro-
file of equipment used for material han-
dling onsite. This information was also used
to prepare the .case .§ludjes__for_ 22. sites....
distributed throughout all 16 EPA Regions.
Projects at the reviewed sites ranged from
major removal/excavation efforts involving
sludge, soil, drums, tanks, and liquids to
simple removal actions involving only a
few drums.
This report has been so written that the
appendix of equipment use at specific haz-
ardous waste sites is cross-referenced with
the appendix for debris/material profiles for
the same sites to give an indication of the
equipment needed to deal with various
debris/material categories. In addition to
the equipment and debris/material profiles,
this report presents an overview of 67 of
the 100 sites, including contaminant, de-
bris/material handling, and the primary de-
bris/material handling procedures and
equipment implemented.
Equipment usage/modification/fabrica-
tion was found to be very site-specific and
often involves trial and error. Typical ex-
amples of site-specific solutions are:
Hydraulic systems were modified to
adapt a backhoe for drum handling
(grappler).
Rubber o"r foam tires'inste'ad'bf pneu-
matic tires were used at sites with
large quantities of sharp metal/glass
objects.
Splash shields were installed on heavy
equipment.
Larger bulldozers were used to winch
smaller dozers up and down the steep
grades of asbestos tailings piles.
Propane-powered instead of diesel-
powered loaders were used for inside
work to reduce fumes.
Heavy equipment failed because of
weather (e.g., cracked hydraulic lines
from cold, tractability during icy condi-
tions, metal fatigue from digging in
frozen soil).
A drum crusher instead of backhoe
was used to crush drums.
Rolloff boxes were converted into treat-
ment chambers for cyanide-contami-
nated film chips.
Materials-Handling Equipment
and Procedures
Within the context of hazardous waste
site remediation, materials handling can
encompass everything from site prepara-
tion (e.g., the building of access roads) to
the actual treatment processes. In gen-
eral, onsite materials-handling equipment
and procedures are used for:
Physical separation and classification
Site preparation
Construction
Feedstock preparation and handling
..^Equipment, structure,_and buildingjle-^
contamination
Loading and hauling
Equipment selection usually depends
on such site-specific considerations as:
General site characteristics (vegeta-
tion, soil type and moisture, topogra-
phy)
Quantity of material present
Treatment technology implemented
(pretreatment needs)
Debris characteristic (metal, plastics,
construction, etc.)
Waste characteristics (solid, liquid,
sludge)
Packaging of waste materials (drums,
tanks, lagoons, etc.)
Ease of startup and demobilization
Climate (temperature, precipitation)
Size of working area
The suitability of a particular piece of
equipment for general onsite use usually
depends on:
Cost
Availability
Personnel requirements for operation,
maintenance, and safety
Versatility
Storage requirements
Objectives of treatment
When equipment requirements have
been determined, the job cost for each
piece of equipment can be estimated.
Equipment can be purchased, rented, or
leased. Rented or leased equipment is
initially less expensive to use, but the cost
of purchased equipment can be amortized
over several projects.
Frequently used materials-handling pro-
cedures at hazardous waste sites can be
categorized as follows:
Excavation and removal
Dredging
Pumping
Size and volume reduction
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Separation and dewatering
Conveying systems
Storage containers, bulking tanks, and
containment
Drum handling and removal
Compaction
Miscellaneous equipment and proce-
dures
Asbestos remediation
Handling of low-level radioactive waste
Emission control
Equipment decontamination
Although most of the equipment used
for excavation and removal work at haz-
ardous waste sites is standard heavy
construction equipment, selection is site-
specific because of the varying quantity
and physical properties of the debris and
materials present. Excavation or removal
_processes take_ place at,most sites with
backhoes being the most common piece
of equipment used. Excavation techniques
are most applicable for dealing with solid
and thickened sludge materials. Conven-
tional excavation techniques are less suit-
able when debris/materials have a high
liquid content.
Excavation equipment generally oper-
ates in a batch rather than in a continuous
mode. The advantage of this is being able
to deal with localized areas of contamina-
tion within a hazardous waste site. Exca-
vation and removal equipment can be used
under virtually all site conditions; however,
such application may be cost-prohibitive at
great depths or under varied hydrogeologic
conditions. The capacities, horsepower,
and size of equipment used for excavation
and removal vary widely, and a variety of
attachments, accessories, and options are
available for individual pieces of equip-
ment. The report contains an appendix
with examples of specific models of equip-
ment that have been or have the potential
to be used on hazardous waste sites (in-
cluding specifications, attachments, and
'options).
Conclusions
The following conclusions were reached
during this study:
1. The diversity of debris, material, and
contaminants found on Superfund and
other hazardous waste sites requires
that the selection and implementation
of materials-handling equipment be
made on an individual, site-specific
basis. Factors affecting the selection
of equipment and procedures for ma-
terials handling are:
Type and quantity of contaminated
materials present
Amount and type of contaminants
found on site
Type of removal/remedial action se-
lected (capping, excavation, pump-
ing, etc.)
Treatment processes implemented
on site
General site characteristics
2. No technical data base currently ex-
ists that characterizes both the debris
and material to be handled and the
equipment and procedures to be used
with these materials at hazardous
waste sites. References to debris/ma-
terial found and equipment used are
random and often fall under the head-
ing of "miscellaneous."
3. The equipment and procedures that
industry uses for materials handling
(e.g., sand/gravel, demolition, etc.)
have not yet been adequately explored
to take advantage of innovations that
could benefit hazardous waste site
remediation.
4. Although attempts have been made to
categorize the debris and materials
found on hazardous waste sites, virtu-
ally no information is available con-
cerning the quantities handled.
Estimates of quantities would be help-
ful to response contractors and EPA
personnel for estimating disposal
costs.
5. Based on the information gathered
from contacts in Germany, the
Netherlands, France, and the
United Kingdom, it appears that
the materials-handling equipment and
procedures currently used for the re-
mediation of foreign sites are essen-
tially the same as those used in the
United States. Extensive hazardous
waste site work is currently being con-
ducted in these countries, however,
and contact should be maintained with
these persons to monitor the future
development of any new or innovative
materials-handling technologies.
6. Because of missing, misplaced, or in-
complete files or confidential business
information restrictions, data concern-
ing materials-handling equipment and
procedures used to remove or reme-
diate contaminated debris and materi-
als at hazardous waste sites are
difficult to access for most of the Re-
7.
gions.
Based on the information gathered for
this report, the type of contaminant
(e.g., acids, low-flash point liquids)
does not appear to have a direct ef-
fect on the choice of equipment and
procedures used at hazardous waste
sites. Whereas the type of contami-
nant found onsite affects the level of
personal protection required, the se-
lection of most equipment is based on
cost, availability, and the ability to deal
with the physical nature of the debris/
material to be handled. The type of
contaminant present onsite does, how-
ever, affect modifications to the equip-
ment chosen for the site work (e.g.,
splash shield installation on excava-
tion equipment).
Recommendations
The results of this study have prompted
the following recommendations for further
action:
1. Given the wide diversity of debris and
materials found on hazardous waste
sites and the different methods of site
remediation used, a central computer-
ized data base dealing solely with
onsite materials handling should be
compiled. This would provide EPA
personnel and response contractors
with a starting point for dealing with
specific materials-handling problems.
Workshops for all 10 EPA Regions
should be developed to brief inter-
ested personnel about the content,
availability, and accessing of the data
base.
2. Vendors of equipment with hazardous
waste site applications should be
alerted to potential opportunities for
hazardous waste site work. Work-
shops/seminars sponsored by EPA
could be offered to vendors.
3. A more comprehensive analysis should
be performed to investigate the feasi-
bility of using recyclable materials
found onsite (after classification and
decontamination). A standard operat-
ing procedure (SOP) should be devel-
oped for dealing with materials found
on hazardous waste sites that have
the potential to be recycled or re-
claimed.
4. Additional information should be col-
lected concerning the effect of equip-
ment downtime and parts availability
on overall project and schedules.
The full report was submitted in fulfill-
ment of Contract No. 68-03-3413 by PEI
Associates, Inc. under sponsorship of the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
frV.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1991 - 54S-028/400SI
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Majid Dosani and John Miller are with PEI Associates, Inc., Cincinnati, OH 45246.
Naomi Berkley is the EPA Project Officer (see below).
The complete report, entitled "Survey of Materials-Handling Technologies Used at
Hazardous Waste Sites,'(Order No. PB91-186924/AS; Cost: $31.00, subject to
change) will be available only from:
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22161
Telephone: 703-487-4650
Tha EPA Project Off leer can be contacted at:
Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Cincinnati, OH 45268
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Center for Environmental Research
Information
Cincinnati, OH 45268
BULK RATE
POSTAGE & FEES PAID
EPA PERMIT NO. G-35
Official Business
Ponatty for Private Use $300
EPA/540/S2-91/010
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