United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Research and Development (481)
Office of Solid Waste and
Emergency Response (5102G)
EPA542-F-96-010D
September 1996
*EBV IINERT Soil-Metals
Team
RTDF
Remediation Technologies
Development Forum
RTDF Action
'earns
IINERT Soil-Metals Action
Team
Lasagna Partnership
Bioremediation Consortium
Permeable Barriers Action
Team
Sediments Remediation
Action Team
What is the IINERT Soil-Metals Action
Team?
The In-Place Inactivation and Natural Ecological Restoration Technologies
(IINERT) Action Team was established in November 1995, as one of five
Action Teams under the Remediation Technologies Development Forum
(RTDF). The RTDF was created by EPA in 1992 to foster collaboration
between the public and private sectors in developing innovative solutions to
mutual hazardous waste problems. The IINERT Soil-Metals Action Team
includes representatives from industry and government who share an interest
in further developing and validating in-situ techniques as viable technologies
for eliminating the hazards of metals in soils and surficial materials.
What are IINER T Technologies?
IINERT technologies chemically and physically inactivate soil-metals found
at the earth's surface by reducing and essentially eliminating their solubility
and bioavailability without the need for excavating the soil. In-situ
incorporation of chemicals-such as phosphates, mineral fertilizers, iron
oxyhydroxides, other minerals, biosolids, limestone-changes the molecular
species of the metals. Changing a metal's molecular species can reduce its
water solubility, bioavailability, and potential toxicity to humans and the
environment. However, the total concentration of the metals may not
necessarily change.
The chemicals used for inactivation may also increase the fertility of the soil
and eliminate any toxicities to plants and soil organisms. Growing a plant
cover physically stabilizes the soil and its contaminants in place, which
minimizes soil erosion and offsite movement of soil and the metals it
contains. Incorporating amendments and growing plants are more natural
ways of restoring the ecology of a soil when compared to other techniques,
such as soil excavation, landfilling, soil washing, or soil capping.
Of the treatment options available for mitigating metals-contaminated soils,
in-place inactivation appears to be the most cost effective. Additionally, it
treats the contaminant in a way that reduces the hazard posed by the soil rather
than burying it in a landfill or covering it over. In this way, contamination of
other areas does not occur since soil cover and landfill space are not needed.
What is the Action Team fs Mission?
The mission is to develop and demonstrate in-place inactivation and natural
ecological restoration technologies that reduce and eliminate the risks of
metals/metalloids in soil to human health and the environment and to
achieve regulatory and public acceptance of these technologies.
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What Are the Action Team's Goals?
The goals of the Action Team are to:
> Understand the mechanisms by which IINERT technologies work.
> Develop appropriate testing protocols and methodologies that
illustrate their utility.
> Improve predictive capabilities.
> Facilitate validation of the effectiveness and persistence of these
technologies.
> Prepare guidelines for effective implementation of these
technologies.
> Gain scientific, public, and regulatory acceptance.
What Activities Are Planned?
The Action Team plans to investigate the following issues:
> What are the physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms of
hazard reduction?
> What speciation techniques are appropriate?
> What factors limit these technologies?
> What are the technical omissions?
> What factors limit public acceptance?
> What animal surrogate can be used to determine human
bioavailability from soil ingestion?
> What chemical extractions/in-vitro tests, which may be used to
demonstrate hazard reduction, can lessen the need for animal feeding
studies?
Areas to be addressed include: (1) soil characterization; (2) site char-
acterization; (3) treatment characterization and optimization; (4) hazard
characterization; and (5) hazard testing protocols.
Who Are the Action Team Members?
U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers
U.S. Department of Agriculture
JUm.
K1DF
Remediation Technologies
Development Forum
U.S. Department of Energy
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
To request other RTDF factsheets, please
write/fax to:
EPA/NCEPI
11305 Reed Hartman Highway, Suite 219
Cincinnati, OH 45241
Fax: (513)489-8695
ASARCO
Beazer East, Inc.
Doe Run Company
DuPont
ETHYL Corporation
FMC Corporation
ILZRO
PPG Industries, Inc.
PTI Environmental Services
3M Company
Would You Like
More
Information?
For more information on the IINERT Soil-
Metals Action Team, please contact:
Bill Berti, Ph.D.
DuPont Central Research and Development
Glasgow Business Community Site 301
P.O. Box 6101, Route 896
Newark, DE 19714-6101
Tel: (302) 451-9224
Email: bertiwr@al.esvax.umc.dupont.com
Jim Ryan, Ph.D.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
National Risk Management
Research Laboratory
26 West Martin Luther King Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45268
Tel: (513) 569-7653
Email: ryan.jim@epamail.epa.gov
For information on the RTDF or the other Action
Teams, please contact:
Robert Olexsey
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Tel: (513)569-7861
Email: olexsey.bob@epamail.epa.gov
Walter Kovalick, Jr., Ph.D.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Tel: (703)603-9910
Email: kovalick.walter@epamail.epa.gov
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