&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Research and Development (481)
Office of Solid Waste and
Emergency Response (5102G)
EPA542-F-96-010
September 1996
Remediation Technologies
Development Forum
RTDF
Remediation Technologies
Development Forum
RTDF Action
Teams
Lasagna Partnership
Bioremediation Consortium
Permeable Barriers Action
Team
IINERT Soil-Metals Action
Team
Sediments Remediation
Action Team
What is the RTDF?
The Remediation Technologies Development Forum (RTDF) was established in
1992 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) after industry
representatives met with the Administrator to identify ways of working together
to solve complex hazardous-waste remediation problems. The RTDF has grown
to a consortium of partners from industry, several government agencies, and
academia who share the common goal of developing more effective, less costly
hazardous waste characterization and treatment technologies.
The RTDF is one of a few government programs designed to foster public-
private partnerships to conduct laboratory and field research to develop, test,
and evaluate innovative remediation technologies. Through the unprecedented
collaboration of the RTDF, companies, government agencies, and universities
are voluntarily sharing knowledge, experience, equipment, facilities, and even
proprietary technology to address mutual remediation problems.
What is the RTDF Vision?
The purpose of the RTDF is to identify what government and industry can do
together to develop and improve the environmental technologies needed to
address their mutual cleanup problems in the safest, most cost-effective manner.
The RTDF fosters public- and private-sector partnerships to undertake the
research, development, demonstration, and evaluation efforts needed to achieve
common cleanup goals.
What is the RTDF Mission?
The RTDF is dedicated to advancing the development of more permanent, cost-
effective technologies for the remediation of hazardous wastes. The RTDF
works to achieve this goal by:
>• Identifying priority remediation technology developmentneeds.
>• Establishing and overseeing action teams to plan and implement
collaborative research proj ects to address remediation problems.
>• Addressing scientific, institutional, and regulatory barriers to innovative
treatmenttechnologies.
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What is the RTDF Structure?
The RTDF establishes self-managed action teams that
bring members together to work on their highest priority
problems. These teams:
>• Share information about planned and ongoing
research.
>• Define research needs, develop detailed research
project plans, and implement projects that often
entail field-scale demonstrations.
S> Ensure that all research is founded on sound
scientific and engineering principles.
>• Enlist partners to support and participate in the
collaborative research effort, either with in-kind
support or direct funding.
>• Produce and disseminate scientifically credible
results to facilitate broad acceptance of the
technology.
How Are New Research
Areas Selected?
Research areas and priorities are determined by consensus
of the members of the RTDF. Organizations interested in
pursuing a specific research topic organize an action team
to implement the research project.
Who Can Join the RTDF?
RTDF meetings are open and all interested organizations
are welcome to participate. RTDF members include
industries facing a variety of remediation problems (e.g.,
chemical, petroleum, and pharmaceutical companies and
various manufacturers), federal agencies, national
laboratories, research centers and institutes, and
universities.
What Are the Roles of the
Action Team Members?
EPA facilitates the operation of the Action Teams and the
RTDF Steering Committee, and contributes its research
efforts to the jointly-led projects. EPA also assists in work-
ing with states and other regulatory agencies to conduct
demonstration proj ects.
Industrial participants help set priorities based on
remediation problems they face, serve as co-team leaders,
and offer both in-kind and monetary resources to support
joint projects. The Department of Energy (DOE) and the
Department of Defense (DOD) and other federal agencies
suggest priority problems in their roles as owners of
contaminated sites, as well as offer sources of funding and
make joint research contributions. They also fulfill a vital
function by contributing military bases and facilities with
contamination problems at which field-scale testing can
be conducted. Universities and other research institutions
provide state-of-the-art science and engineering expertise
from their existing research base and help assure that
sound engineering and scientific principles are followed.
What Are the Funding
Sources?
EPA provides funding for RTDF research activities, as
well as support for RTDF and Action Team meetings.
Other federal agencies, e.g., DOE and DOD, as well as
industrial and academic participants are providing
funding, laboratory, and field support for research
activities undertaken by the Action Teams. Participants
in each Action Team provide funding and/or in-kind
support for specific research efforts of the team. The
RTDF is currently supporting approximately $20 million
of research efforts.
Funding Sources for RTDF Field Work
48%
43%
9%
Industrial Corporate Government
Associations Contributions
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Cometabolic
Bioventing
Location: Hill AFB, UT
RTDF Action Team:
Bioremediation Consortium
Media and Contaminants:
Chlorinated solvents in the
vadose zone
Treatment: Cometabolic
Bioventing
Intrinsic
Bioremediation
Location: Strother Field, KS
RTDF Action Team:
Bioremediation Consortium
Media and Contaminants:
Chlorinated solvents in soil
and groundwater
Treatment: Intrinsic
Bioremediation
Accelerated Anaerobic
Biodegradation
Location: Strother Field, KS
RTDF Action Team:
Bioremediation Consortium
Media and Contaminants:
Chlorinated solvents in soil
and groundwater
Treatment: Accelerated
Anaerobic Biodegradation
Action Team Field Sites
Fall 1996
Lasagna™ Technology
Location: Paducah, KY
RTDF Action Team:
Lasagna™ Consortium
Media and Contaminants:
Chlorinated solvents in low
permeability soil and
groundwater
Treatment: Lasagna™
Technology
Permeable Barrier
Location: Dover, DE
RTDF Action Team:
Permeable Barriers Action
Team
Media and Contaminants:
Chlorinated solvents in soil
and groundwater
Treatment: In-situ Reactive
Wall
Intrinsic
Bioremediation
Location: Dover, DE
RTDF Action Team:
Bioremediation Consortium
Media and Contaminants:
Chlorinated solvents in soil
and groundwater
Treatment: Intrinsic
Bioremediation
Cometabolic
Bioventing
Location: Dover, DE
RTDF Action Team:
Bioremediation Consortium
Media and Contaminants:
Chlorinated solvents in the
vadose zone
Treatment: Cometabolic
Bioventing
Accelerated Anaerobic
Biodegradation
Location: Dover, DE
RTDF Action Team:
Bioremediation Consortium
Media and Contaminants:
Chlorinated solvents in soil
and groundwater
Treatment: Accelerated
Anaerobic Biodegradation
Existing RTDF Test Sites
Potential RTDF Test Sites
What Are the RTDF Priority Research Areas?
Five Action Teams have been formed to address priority research areas. The activities undertaken by these Action Teams
focus on the development, testing, and evaluation of in-situ remediation technologies. The priorities and activities of the
teams include:
Lasagna™ Consortium-Design, develop, and demonstrate a
technology that utilizes electroosmosis as a liquid pump for
flushing contaminants from the soil into the treatment zones for
degradation.
Bioremediation Consortium-Design, demonstrate, and
evaluate enhanced anaerobic biodegradation of chlorinated
solvents in soils and groundwater; generate data needed to
determine the effectiveness of intrinsic bioremediation (natural
biological degradation) as an accepted remedial approach; and
develop a cost-effective bioventing process that promotes the
Cometabolic bioremediation of chlorinated solvents in the
vadose zone.
Permeable Barriers Action Team-Develop and test the
effectiveness of permeable barrier technology for the
remediation of chlorinated solvents, metals, radionuclides, and
other pollutants in groundwater.
In-Place Inactivation and Natural Ecological Restoration
(UNERT) Soil-Metals Action Team-Develop and demon-
strate in-place inactivation and natural ecological restoration
technologies that reduce and eliminate the risks to human health
and the environment of metals/metalloids in soil.
Sediments Remediation Action Team-Develop and/or
evaluate passive, in-situ techniques to remediate sediment
contamination; investigate the mechanisms and rates of natural
biological degradation; and enhance or develop assessment
procedures to evaluate the need for and success of remedial
activities.
Coordination With Other Groups-The RTDF interacts and
communicates with other consortia including the Consortium
for Site Characterization Technology, the Advanced Applied
Technology Demonstration Facility, and the Western Governors
Association.
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Fall 1996
Who are the RTDFParticipants?
ASARCO
AT&T
Battelle Memorial
Institute
Beak International
Beazer East, Inc.
Bethlehem Steel Corporation
Ciba Geigy Corporation
Conoco, Inc.
Doe Run Company
Dow Chemical Company
DuPont
Electric Power Research Institute
Elf Aquitaine, Inc.
EnviroMetal Technologies, Inc.
ETHYL Corporation
Exxon Research & Engineering Co.
FMC Corporation
General Electric
General Motors Corporation
ICI Americas
International Business Machines
Corporation
3M Corporation
Merck & Co., Inc.
Mobil Oil Corporation
Monsanto Company
PPG Industries, Inc.
Shell Development Company
Texaco, Inc.
Westinghouse Savannah River Co.
Zeneca, Inc.
RTDF Members by
Type of Organization
Industry / Government
47% /^ 32%
Academia
21%
J
Advanced Applied Tech.
Demonstration Facility*
Gulf Coast Hazardous
Substance Research Center*
Los Alamos National
Laboratory
National Center for Intrinsic
Bioremediation Research and
Development*
National Center for Manufacturing
Sciences*
U.S. Air Force
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
U.S. Army Environmental Center
U.S. Department of Agriculture
U.S. Department of Defense
U.S. Department of Energy
Argonne National Laboratory
Idaho National Engineering Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Pacific Northwest Laboratory
Sandia National Laboratory
U.S. Department of Interior
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency
National Exposure Research
Laboratory
National Health and Environmental
Effects Research Laboratory
National Risk Management Research
Laboratory
Technology Innovation Office
U.S. Navy
Naval Research Laboratory
*Research centers funded primarily
by the federal government
Cornell University
Michigan State University
New Mexico Tech
| Northwestern University
Rice University
Stanford University
The Johns Hopkins University
University of Cincinnati
University of Michigan
University of Tennessee
University of Waterloo
Waste Policy Institute
KTDF
Remediation Technologies
Development Forum
Would You Like
More
Information?
For more information on the
RTDF or the
Action Teams, please contact:
Robert Olexsey
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
26 West Martin Luther King Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45268
Tel: (513)569-7861
Email: olexsey.bob@epamail.epa.gov
Walter Kovalick, Jr., Ph.D.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401M Street, SW (5102G)
Washington, D.C. 20460
Tel: (703) 603-9910
Email: kovalick.walter@epamail.epa.gov
To request other RTDF factsheets, please
write/fax to:
EPA/NCEPI
11305 Reed Hartman Highway, Suite 219
Cincinnati, OH 45241
Fax: (513)489-8695
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