United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Solid Waste
Emergency Response
(5102W)
EPA 542-N-96-002
June 1996
Issue No. 23
vvEPA
S^SsI
The Applied Technologies Journal for Superfund Removals & Remedial Actions & RCRA Corrective Actions
LEAD RECLAMATION FROM
SUPERFUND WASTE
By Laurel Staley, National Risk Management Research Laboratory
Lead
Smelter
Soil
Materials from three Superfund
sites, a construction site and a
bridge sandblasting operation
were processed with regular feed
to a secondary lead smelter as part
of an EPA Superfund Innovative
Emerging Technology Evalua-
tion. Since secondary lead smelt-
ers already recover lead from re-
cycled automobile batteries, it
seemed likely that this technology
could be used to treat waste from
lead-acid battery contaminated
Superfund sites. Such sites are
very widespread and constitute a
significant problem in site
remediation.
In general, the EPA evaluation
demonstrated that secondary lead
smelters can treat lead contami-
nated wastes from Superfund sites
provided that the waste is reduced
to the right size (less than 1/4
inch) and is not fed too quickly
(at more than 50% of the smelter
feed rate). Waste feed combina-
tions of between 1% and 45%
can be successfully fed into the
secondary smelter. Lead waste
was reclaimed from all test mate-
rials over a range of efficiencies,
from an estimated 70% for the
abrasive blasting material to
99.5% for NL Industries site
wastes, which consisted of lead
slag, debris, dross, ingots, battery
case pieces, baghouse bags, pallets
and cans, which had initial con-
centrations of 20% to 57%. Ini-
tial lead concentrations for iron
shot bridge-blasting material,
rubber and plastic battery cases,
with some soil and demolition
debris coated with lead paint
ranged from 3.2% to 14.7%.
The cost for remediating lead-
acid battery sites using this tech-
nology ranged from $35/ton to
$375/ton based on a variety of
factors such as lead concentra-
tion, market price for lead, dis-
tance from the smelter, percent
of test material that becomes in-
corporated into the final slag,
iron content, BTU value of the
test material and sulfur content.
The first step in reclaiming lead
from Superfund wastes is acquir-
ing and transporting the material
to one of the smelters. Pre-pro-
cessing includes screening to re-
move soil, large stones or non-
contaminated debris that cannot
be processed through a secondary
smelter. Larger debris (>12 in.)
is also removed because large ma-
terial tends to remain unburned
in reverberatory furnaces.
Material is blended with typical
feed prior to processing through
the furnaces. Typical blend ra-
tios range from 10% to 50% by
weight, based on treatability tests
and other factors, such as lead,
sulfur, iron or ash content.
Smelters typically contain tan-
dem reverberatory/blast furnace
processes. The lead-containing
material that is to be reclaimed is
first charged to the reverberatory
furnaces. They process the feed
material into slag, which typically
contains 60% to 70% lead and a
soft (pure) lead product.
The reverberatory furnace slag
is enhanced by processing it
through a blast furnace. Iron and
limestone are added as fluxing
agents to enhance furnace pro-
duction. The blast furnaces are
tapped continuously to remove
lead and intermittently to remove
the slag. The blast slag, is trans-
ported to an offsite landfill for
disposal.
Lead produced in the blast and
reverberatory furnaces is trans-
ferred to the refining process
where metals are added to make
specific lead alloys. The lead is
then pumped to the casting op-
erations where it is molded into
ingots for use in the manufacture
of new lead-acid batteries.
For more information, call Lau-
rel Staley at EPA's National Risk
Management Research Laboratory
at 513-569-7863.
Recycled/Recyclable
1 Printed with Soy/Canola Ink on paper
that contains at least 50% recycled fiber
-------
Partners
RCI TO EXPEDITE TECHNOLOGIES TO MARKET
By Stanley Chanesman, U.S. Dept. of Commerce
The Rapid Commercialization
Project (RCI) is an innovative
partnership of Federal inter-
agency, interstate government and
industry, the primary role of
which is to accelerate commercial-
ization of environmental tech-
nologies. Although the goal of
easing the commercialization path
of technology is the most signifi-
cant aspect of the RCI, another
innovation lies in the initiation of
collaborative strategies to unite
private sector technology develop-
ers, States, Federal agencies and
regulatory bodies at national,
State and local levels to identify
and work through the environ-
mental technology commercializa-
tion barriers under the aegis of the
RCI. Federal agencies include the
Departments of Commerce
(DOC), Defense (DoD) and En-
ergy (DOE) and the Environmen-
tal Protection Agency (EPA); par-
ticipating States and State organi-
zations include The State of Cali-
fornia Environmental Protection
Agency, Southern States Energy
Board and the Western Governors
Association.
The RCI currently addresses
three key barriers to commercial-
ization: assistance in finding ap-
propriate field sites for demon-
strating/testing near-commercial
environmental technologies; assis-
tance in verifying the performance
and cost of performance of tech-
nologies; and assistance in facili-
tating and expediting the issuance
of permits. RCI offers services
appropriate to addressing each
barrier. From the services avail-
able, the technology developer
selects the services needed for the
project, thereby using the
developer's best assessment as to
what barrier(s) the technology
faces.
Cooperation between states,
regulatory agencies and technology
developers is defined into the pro-
gram; it is the modus operand! of
the RCI. During technology
demonstrations, for example,
multi-state participation on
project teams will enable mutual
sharing of technology performance
data across states. States that do
not have a technology being dem-
onstrated or verified within their
boundaries will also be part of
RCI project teams to mutually
share data and to serve as impartial
monitors of procedures and re-
sults. RCI project teams will con-
sist of representatives from all
members of the technology and
regulatory communities to facili-
tate dialogue about mutual prob-
lems and solutions.
States where verification tests are
to be performed will facilitate the
timely issuance of permits, where
necessary, for technology testing
and demonstration. In an innova-
tive paradigm for state coopera-
tion, the Interstate Technology
and Regulatory Cooperation
(ITRC) Working Group has
sponsored a Memorandum of
Agreement (MOU) that allows
four States (California, Massachu-
setts, Illinois and New Jersey) to
mutually accept support data and
the results of demonstrations and
verifications of environmental
technologies. RCI will incorpo-
rate this MOU into RCI activities,
so that environmental technology
developers will be able to use data
collected in an RCI project in
MOU States to foster evaluation
and promotion of technologies in
sister States. This approach exem-
plifies the RCI program's willing-
ness to use fresh approaches to ac-
complish its barrier reduction
goals.
Most important, it is the respon-
sibility of the Federal agencies par-
ticipating in RCI to provide an in-
teragency forum to implement
RCI and to monitor project
progress and program success.
Federal agencies will collect "les-
sons learned" so that improved
policies that foster industrial, State
and federal cooperation and col-
laboration may be applied to mini-
mize barriers to technology com-
mercialization. The RCI process
will give the technology an initial"
stamp of approval" which will in-
crease technology credibility and
marketability.
Industry, represented by the pri-
vate sector technology developer,
has the responsibility to identify
concerns that address barriers to
commercialization. Industry is in-
vited to propose innovative ap-
proaches to mitigate these barriers
and to create new ways to measure
the success of these approaches.
A fundamental premise underly-
ing RCI is that projects selected
would represent the best available
developed technology from private
sector technology developers. To
make this determination, a four-
step merit review process using
equivalent technical and business
factors was done by peer reviewers
from within and outside the Fed-
eral government. As a result of a
solicitation and review process, 10
out of a total of 36 proposals were
chosen to participate in the first
(continued on page 3)
-------
Site Subjects
EUECTROCOAGULATION REMOVES
METALS FROM WASTEWATER
By Steven Rock, EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH
•lectrocoagulation
The General Environmental
Corporation's CURE Electroco-
agulation Wastewater Treatment
System was developed to remove
an extremely broad range of dis-
solved metals from water, includ-
ing aluminum, arsenic, barium,
cadmium, lead, nickel, uranium
and zinc. Because electroco-
agulation can also remove other
suspended materials from solu-
tion, this technology can also treat
metals attached to suspended par-
ticles in mining, electroplating
and industrial wastewater, as well
as contaminated ground water.
The U.S. Department of Energy
and the EPA evaluated the CURE
system at the Rocky Flats Envi-
ronmental Technology Site in
Golden, Colorado as part of the
Superfund Innovative Technol-
ogy Evaluation (SITE) Program.
The SITE demonstration evalu-
ated the removal of uranium, plu-
tonium and americium from solar
evaporation pond (SEP) water.
Analytical results demonstrate a
significant reduction in uranium,
plutonium and americium in ef-
fluent water. Total uranium was
reduced 49.5% and 38% from in-
fluent concentrations of 2,633
and 2,866 milligrams per liter.
Plutonium-239 was reduced
82.8% fanned 99% from influent
concentrations of 0.209 and
29.85 pico curies per liter (pCi/
L). Americium-241 was reduced
69.0 and 99.2% from influent
concentrations of 0.187 and
71.99pCi/L.
Prior to the SITE demonstra-
tion, during the treatabiliry stud-
ies, the CURE system removed
up to 99% of all contaminants by
metals analysis. During the dem-
onstration only gross alpha tests
were used, which indicated com-
plete removal of alpha contami-
nation, but did not reflect total
uranium content.
CURE was evaluated as a trans-
portable, trailer-mounted unit
that used a series of concentric
iron or aluminum tubes, a power
supply to control the current
across the interior and exterior
tube and a clarifier to remove
floccule formed in the tubes.
Contaminated waters can be pro-
cessed at flow rates up to 7 gal-
lons per minute.
During operation of the
CURE system, contaminated wa-
ter is pumped into the system in-
fluent storage tank. The water
then passes through a small
screening device to remove large
debris that could clog or damage
the subsequent equipment. Fol-
lowing screening, the water may
be treated to adjust the acidity
(pH), redox potential and con-
ductivity to achieve maximum re-
moval efficiency for specific waste
streams and contaminants. The
water then passes through the
electrocoagulation tubes, which
consist of a tube-shaped anode
material that concentrically sur-
rounds a tube-shaped cathode
material, thereby leaving an an-
nular space between the cathode
and anode tubes. Typical reten-
tion time is less than 20 seconds.
As the water passes through the
annular space, contaminants co-
agulate with the metal and metal
hydroxide cations derived from
the electrocoagulation tubes to
form floccule. The floccule is then
removed from the treated water in
the attached clarification unit.
Polymers can be added to en-
hance flocculation, but were not
used during the SITE demonstra-
tion. The clarifier underflow is
dewatered using a bag filter that
is integrated into the transport-
able treatment unit. Dewatered
floccule produced by the CURE
system typically do not require
stabilization to pass the toxicity
characteristic leaching procedure
but may need to be stabilized to
meet EPA land disposal restric-
tions.
Electrocoagulation does not re-
move metals that do not form
precipitates. In addition,
electrocoagulation will not re-
move soluble organic com-
pounds.
For more information, call Steve
Rock at EPA's National Risk Man-
agement Research Laboratory at
513-569-7149. To get on the
mailing list for the Technology
Capsule and Innovative Technology
Evaluation Report of the SITE
demonstration, send Steve Rock a
FAX at 513-569-7105.
(continued from page 2)
RCI phase. The companies will
enter cooperative partnership
agreements with the RCI Federal
and State participants for the dem-
onstration of the technologies.
The technologies and their devel-
opers are:
Verification ofOxyozone Biosolids
Treatment System (Total Municipal
Solids Recovery). A technology for
reducing potential human patho-
gens in municipal wastewater
biosolids and other organic waste
(continued on page 4)
-------
(continued from page 3)
streams based on the disinfecting prop-
erties of ozone.
LASAGNA ™ Integrated In-situ
Remediation Technology (Monsanto
Company), A comprehensive in-situ
suite of technologies integrated to re-
move various contaminants from low-
permeability soils. The process creates
alternate layers of sorption and degra-
dation zones through the introduction
of sorbents, catalytic agents, microbes,
oxidants and buffers.
Verification and Certification of the
MAG-SEP Technology [Selective Envi-
ronmental Technologies, Inc.
(SELENTEC)]. A magnetic separa-
tions technology for ground water
treatment using specially designed par-
ticles (polymer coated magnetite) to se-
lectively adsorb contaminant metals.
Terra-Kleen Solvent Extraction Tech-
nology (Terra-Kleen Response Group,
Inc.). A solvent extraction technology
which uses non-toxic solvents to mobi-
lize hazardous soil contaminants and
then collects those contaminants for de-
struction off-site in an EPA-approved
facility.
Solvated Electron Chemistry
Remediation and Restoration (Commo-
dore Environmental Services).
Agent 313 is a solvated electron chem-
istry materials process used to destroy
hazardous hydrocarbon contamination
in soils.
Hand-Held Instruments for Measuring
Low Levels ofTrihalomethanes (ORS
Environmental Systems). Hand-held in-
strument uses innovative sensor tech-
nology for detecting and measuring to-
tal trihalomethanes in water to parrs
per billion (ppb) levels.
Instrumentfor Measuring Petroleum
Hydrocarbon Contamination (ORS En-
vironmental Systems). Hand-held in-
struments using innovative sensor tech-
nologies for detecting and measuring
trichforoethylene and volatile organic
compounds in aqueous solutions to
ppb levels.
Portable Spectrometer for Analysis of
Soil and Water Contamination with
Hanby Text Kits (Hanby Environmental
Laboratory Procedures, Inc.). A field kit
technology (previously available and
successful commercially without the
spectrometer) to conduct quantitative
soil and water tests employing compari-
son of the sample results visually with a
photographic standard. Now with the
spectrometer it will interpret results di-
rectly. The objective is to prove the
savings in analytical costs, labor, time
and accuracy.
Waste Inspection Tomography/Active
Passive Neutron Examination and Assay
(Bio-Imaging Research, Inc.). Consists of
digital waste inspection tomography
and active passive neutron examination
and assay for nondestructive and non
invasive analysis of sealed radioactive
containers.
Multi-Sampling Lysimeter/Cone Pen-
etrometer (Bladon International, Inc.). A
technology that integrates a multi-sam-
pling lysimeter with a cone penetrom-
eter to sample moisture ana contami-
nants in the vadose zone before they
reach the water table without drilling a
well. The objective is to deploy to
depths of 50 to 100 feet, retrieve soil
pore liquid from the vadose zone and
transport the liquid samples to the sur-
face for performance verification.
An innovative "private electronic net-
work" will enable project teams to ex-
change documentation and data to be
used as information to facilitate the
work of all teams. Results will be avail-
able on some of the projects within a
few months. The longest projects will
take about 18 months. The public can
obtain updated informatioi. on the
projects and the RCI from the RCI
Web at: http://rci.gnet.org; so, watch
that space for more information.
MAILING LIST/ORDER INFO/ON-LINE ACCfiSS
Togst on ill* permanent waiting fist For Technology laaovarton Offic* publication* or to ofd« additional copjwof ttt is "or previous issu<»of T«ch Ttanrfs,seftd a
fax feouest « the Rkioiui Cenwn fat EnvitdflmeAtii Publications 4nd iBfiwttbmort ^NCEPI) at Ji;WSS-8<$<>5,»r ifeiKf a man tejuest to
NCEPU PXX Bo* 424 1-9, Ctiwi nnati, OH 432&-£4 1 9. Please refer f n the 4ocu rpent fl.i»mbw art tljfe epver of the issue if available.
TECH TRENDS can be obrnsjxfd by accessing EPA'* Clean-Up Iflfannatttm Bulletin Board Sysrem (CLU-IN): by calling 30 U589-8366; via the Internet, by
wlrt« K> CLU-IN, EPA.GOV Of 154.67.99-13, Fdi vofcshnslp call 3014S9-8368
Tech Tr Tr«n P.O, 6ox 41419, Cincinnati. OH+ -4 5242-24 19
United States
Environmental Protection Agency
National Center for Environmental
Publications and Information
P.O. Box 42419
Cincinnati, OH 45242-2419
Official Business
Penalty for Private Use $300
EPA 542-N-96-002
June 1996
Issue No. 23
BULK RATE
Postage and Fees Paid
EPA
G-35
------- |