&EPA United States Environmental Protection Agency Research and Development (481) Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5102G) EPA542-F-97-012d November 1997 IINERT Soil-Metals Action Team RTDF Remediation Technologies Development Forum RTDF Action £*"*- ~ ^-v A . Teams Lasagna™ Partnership -• Bioremediation Consortium t Permeable Reactive Barriers Action Team 5 N # "* Sediments Remediation Action Team ~~- ' '-! "- " " >~\ , ' In -Situ Mushing Action ? * Team —' ^ ,*"* Phytoremediation of __ y, Organics Action Team ,„* W What Is the IINERT Soil-Metals Action Team? The In-Place Inactivation and Natural Ecological Restoration Technologies (IINERT) Soil-Metals Action Team was established in November 1995 as one of seven Action Teams under the Remediation Technologies Development Forum (RTDF). The RTDF was created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (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 IINERT 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 incorpo- ration of chemicals—such as phosphates, mineral fertilizers, iron oxyhy- droxides, 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 neces- sarily change. The chemicals used for inactivation also may 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 off-site 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, degrada- tion and contamination of other areas do not occur since soil cover and land- fill space are not needed. What Is the Action Team's Mission? The mission is to develop and demonstrate 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 and to achieve regulatory and public acceptance of these technologies. ------- What Are the Action Team's Goals? The goals of the Action Team are to: > Understand the mechanisms by which HNERT 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 questions: >• What are the physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms of hazard reduction? >• What spectation 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) site characterization; (2) soil characteri- zation; (3) treatment characterization and optimization; (4) hazard charac- terization; and (5) hazard testing protocols. What Organizations Are Represented on the Action Team? JU2L ASARCO Beazer East, Inc. The Doe Run Company DuPont Environmental Management Services ILZRO Sevenson Environmental Services, Inc. Kansas State University North Carolina State University University of Colorado University of Missouri n Missouri Department of Health Missouri Department of Natural Resources U.S. Air Force U.S. Department of Agriculture U.S. Environmental Protection Agency KTDF Remediation Technologies Development Forum 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 E-mail: bill.berti@usa.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 E-mail: ryan.jim@epamail.epa.gov 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 Copied on Recycled Paper ------- |