vv EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Research and Development (481)
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response (5102G)
EPAS42-F-97-M2
November 1997
Remediation Technologies
Development Forum
RTDF
Remediation Technologies
Development Forum
RTDF Action
Teams
Lasagna™ Partnership
Bioremediation Consortium
IINERT Soil-Metals Action
Team
Sediments Remediation
Action Team
In Situ Flushing Action
Team
Phytoremediation of
Organics Action Team
Permeable Reactive
Barriers Action Team
What Is the RTDF?
The Remediation Technologies Development Forum (RTDF) was estab-
lished in 1992 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to fos-
ter collaboration between the public and private sectors in developing
innovative solutions to mutual hazardous waste problems. The RTDF has
grown to include 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 applied field research to
develop, test, and evaluate innovative remediation technologies. Through
the unprecedented collaboration of the RTDF, companies, government
agencies, and universities voluntarily are sharing knowledge, experience,
equipment, facilities, and even proprietary technology to address mutual
remediation problems.
What Are the RTDF's Objectives?
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 development needs.
• Establishing and overseeing action teams to plan and implement
collaborative research projects to address remediation problems.
• Addressing scientific, institutional, and regulatory barriers to innovative
treatment technologies.
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 needs, develop detailed project plans, and
implement projects that often entail field-scale demonstrations.
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• Ensure that all work is founded on sound scientific
and engineering principals.
* Enlist partners to support and participate in the collabo-
rative efforts, either with in-kind support or direct
funding.
• Produce and disseminate scientifically credible results
to facilitate broad acceptance of the technology.
How Are New Action Areas
Selected?
Action areas and priorities are determined by consensus
of the members of the RTDF Action Teams.
Organizations interested in pursuing research in areas
that are not being addressed by an existing Action Team
may organize to implement the research and be recog-
nized as an RTDF Action Team.
Who Can Join the RTDF?
RTDF meetings are open, and all interested organizations
are welcome to participate. RTDF members include indus-
tries that are facing a variety of remediation problems
(e.g., chemical, petroleum, and pharmaceutical companies
and various manufacturers), federal agencies, national lab-
oratories, research centers, 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
working with states and other regulatory agencies to con-
duct demonstration projects.
Industrial participants help set priorities based on remedi-
ation problems they face, serve as co-team leaders, and
offer both in-kind and monetary resources to support joint
projects. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), U.S.
Department of Defense (DOD), and other federal agen-
cies suggest priority problems in their roles as owners of
remediation problems, as well as offer sources of funding
and make joint research contributions. They also perform
a vital function by making available 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 bases
and help assure that sound engineering and scientific
principles are followed.
What Are the Funding
Sources?
EPA provides funding for some 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 provide funding,
laboratory, and field support for activities undertaken by
the Action Teams. Participants in each Action Team pro-
vide funding and/or in-kind support for specific efforts of
the team. The RTDF currently is supporting approxi-
mately $22 million of research and development activi-
ties. Approximately 44% of funding for RTDF field work
comes from corporations, 55% from government, and
1% from academia.
Funding Sources for RTDF Field Work
6O
SO
40
3O
2O
10
O
Acadamla Corporations Government
What Are the RTDF Priority
Action Areas?
Seven Action Teams have been formed to address priori-
ty areas. The activities undertaken by these Action Teams
focus on the development, testing, and evaluation of in
situ soil and ground-water remediation technologies. The
priorities and activities of the teams include:
Bioremediation Consortium—Design, demonstrate, and
evaluate accelerated anaerobic biodegradation of chlori-
nated solvents in soils and ground water; generate data
needed to determine the effectiveness of intrinsic biore-
mediation (natural biological degradation) as an accepted
remedial approach; and develop a cost-effective biovent-
ing process that promotes the cometabolic bioremedia-
tion of chlorinated solvents in the vadose zone.
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Lasagna™ Partnership—Design, develop, and demon-
strate a technology that utilizes electroosmosis as a liquid
pump for flushing chlorinated organic contaminants from
the soil into treatment zones for degradation.
Permeable Reactive Barriers Action Team—Develop
and test the effectiveness of permeable reactive barriers
for the remediation of organic and inorganic ground-water
contaminants.
Sediments Remediation Action Team—Develop and
evaluate passive, in situ techniques to remediate sediment
contaminants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs) and metals; 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.
In-Place Inactivation and Natural Ecological
Restoration (IINERT) Soil-Metals Action
Team—Develop and demonstrate in-place activation and
natural ecological restoration technologies that reduce
and eliminate the risks of metals/metalloids in soil to
human health and the environment.
Phytoremediation of Organics Action Team—Assess
status of current phytoremediation research; determine
how to address research gaps; and encourage considera-
tion of phytoremediation to clean up sites with organic
contaminants.
In Situ Flushing Action Team—Develop a proactive
plan for assessment and development of chemically
enhanced flushing technologies for remediating organic
contaminants and optimize the design of an in situ
flushing system.
Coordination With Other Groups—The RTDF inter-
acts and communicates with other consortia including the
Consortium for Site Characterization Technology, the
Clean Sites Public-Private Partnerships project, the
Advanced Applied Technology Demonstration Facility,
and the Environmental Security Technology Certification
Program.
Location: Dover, DE
RTDF Action Team:
Bioremediation Consortium
Media and Contaminants:
Chlorinated solvents in the
vadose zone
Treatment: Cometabolic
Bioventing
Location: HillAFB.UT
RTDF Action Team:
Bioremediation Consortium
Media and Contaminants:
Chlorinated solvents in the
vadose zone
Treatment: Cometabolic
Bioventing
Location: Dover, DE
RTDF Action Team:
Bioremediation Consortium
Media and Contaminants:
Chlorinated solvents in soil
and ground water
Treatment: Accelerated
Anaerobic Biodegradation
Location: Joplin, MO
RTDF Action Team:
IINERT Soil-Metals
Action Team
Media and Contaminants:
Lead in Soil
Treatment: In-place
inactivation with
phosphorous
Location: Paducah, KY
RTDF Action Team:
Lasagna™ Partnership
Media and Contaminants:
Chlorinated solvents in low-
permeability soil and
ground water
Treatment: Lasagna™
Technology
Location: Elizabeth City, NC
RTDF Action Team:
Permeable Reactive Barriers
Action Team
Media and Cotaminants:
Chromate and chlorinated
solvents in ground water
Treatment: In situ
Permeable Reactive Barrier
Location: Dover, DE
RTDF Action Team:
Permeable Reactive
Barriers Action Team
Media and Contaminants:
Chlorinated solvents in soil
and ground water
Treatment: In situ
Permeable Reactive Wall
Location: Dover, DE
RTDF Action Team:
Bioremediation Consortium
Media and Contaminants:
Chlorinated solvents in soil
and ground water
Treament: Intrinsic
Bioremediation
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Who Are the RTDF
Participants?
American Petroleum
Institute
Applied Natural
Sciences, Inc.
ARCO
ASARCO
Battelle
Beak International
Beazer East, Inc.
Cercona
CDM Federal
Chevron
Ciba Geigy Corporation
Clean Sites, Inc.
Doe Run Company
Dow Chemical Company
DuPont
EMCON
Environmental Management Services
EnviroMetal Technologies, Inc.
EPRI
Exxon
General Electric
Geomatrix
Global Remediation, Inc.
ICI Americas
ILZRO
Lockheed Martin Energy Systems
ManTech
McLaren Hart
Monsanto Company
NewFields, Inc.
Nilex
Novartis
Occidental Chemical Corporation
OHM Remediation Services Corp.
Parsons Engineering Science
PPG Industries, Inc.
Retec, Inc.
Rohm and Haas
Sevenson Environmental Services, Inc.
Shell Development Company
Solatia, Inc.
Texaco, Inc.
Union Carbide Corporation
Witco Corporation
Zeneca, Inc.
State of Kentucky
n State of Missouri
Texas Natural Resource
Conservation
Commission
U.S. Department of
Agriculture
U.S. Department of Defense
U.S. Air Force
U.S. Army of Corps of Engineers
U.S. Navy
U.S. Department of Energy
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
U.S. Geological Survey
Clemson University
Colorado State
University
CSIRO (Australia)
Gas Research Institute
Institute of Gas Technology
Kansas State University
New Mexico Tech
North Carolina State University
Rice University
State University of New York at
Buffalo
Texas A&M University
University of Cincinnati
University of Colorado
University of Florida
University of Michigan
University of Missouri
University of Nebraska
University of Oklahoma
University of Texas
University of Washington
University of Waterloo
RTDF Members by
Type of Organization
RTDF
Remediation Technologies
Development Forum
Would You
Like
More Information?
For information on the RTDF or other
Action Teams, please visit the RTDF
World Wide Web site at www.rtdf.org or
contact:
Robert Olexsey
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
26 West Martin Luther King Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45268
-Tel: 513-569-7861-
E-mail: olexsey.bob@epamail.epa.gov
Walter W Kovalick, Jr., Ph.D.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW (5102G)
Washington, DC 20460
Tel: 703-603-9910
E-mail: kovalick.walter@epamail.epa.gov
To request other RTDF fact sheets, please
write/fax to:
EPA/NCEPI
11305 Reed Hartman Highway, Suite 219
Cincinnati, OH 45241
Fax: 513-489-8695
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