United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Air and Energy Engineering
Research Laboratory
Research Triangle Park NC 27711
Research and Development
EPA/600/S7-88/010 Nov. 1 988
&EPA Project Summary
Testing of Toxicology and
Emissions Sampling
Methodology for Ocean
Incineration of Hazardous
Wastes
Paul Boehm, Marcus Cooke, Scott Carr, William Piispanen, and
Christine Werme
As part of the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency's strategy to evaluate at-sea
incineration technology, the report ad-
dresses the development and testing of
a system to expose marine organisms to
hazardous waste emissions In order to
assess the potential toxicity of in-
cinerator plumes at sea as they may
come in contact with the marine environ-
ment through air-sea exchange and in-
itial mixing.
A sampling train was designed and
tested at EPA's land based hazardous
waste incinerator using transformer oil
as a waste feed. The incinerator was
operated under conditions which would
be appropriate for at-sea incinerators.
The sampling train (Marine Incinera-
tion Biological Assessment Sampler -
MIBAS) provides a sea water sample
containing a plume emission for the
marine organisms testing.
Five toxlcity-test protocols were re-
fined and/or developed for use in this
program: (1) a sea urchin fertilization
test; (2) a chronic test using macroalgae
Champ/a pa/vu/a; (3) a 7-day chronic test
using growth and reproduction of the
crustacean Mysidopsis ban/a; (4) a 7-day
growth and survival test with the fish
Menidia bery/Hna; and (5) a 7-day life cy-
cle test using the archiannelid worm
Dinophllus gyrocilatus.
The results of applying these tests
during a hazardous waste burn are given
in the report.
This Project Summary was developed
by EPA's Air and Energy Engineering
Research Laboratory, Research Triangle
Park, NC, to announce key findings of the
research project that is fully documented
in a separate report of the same title (see
Project Report ordering information at
back).
Introduction
As part of the Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA) overall strategy developed
to evaluate both the potential benefits and
risks associated with the incineration of
hazardous wastes at sea, an overall en-
vironmental research strategy has been
formulated. This strategy focuses on the ac-
quisition of scientific information and on the
development of new techniques designed
to expand our knowledge of: (1) the
chemical nature of incinerator emissions;
(2) the behavior and fate of incinerator
emission plumes; (3) the possible extent of
exposure of marine organisms to these
emissions; and (4) the possible en-
vironmental consequences of such ex-
posure. An integral part of this strategy is
the formulation of a firm scientific basis for
the assessment of environmental risk
through the development of a rational,
scientifically defensible methodology for
this assessment.
The overall objectives of Study Area 1 of
the research strategy, all addressed in this
report, were threefold:
-------
1) The development of a method to ob-
tain samples of incinerator emissions
(Level 1).
2) The development of a method to in-
troduce these emissions to an ap-
propriate selection of marine
bioassaays (Level 1).
3) The laboratory and field testing,
validation, and refinement of this
system (Levels 1 and 2).
The final outcome of Study Area 1 should
be validated, documented, reproducible
methodology based on a field-tested
system. It is important to note that the Study
Area 1 program was designed to develop
and document these methods, and was not
intended to determine the actual toxicity of
incinerator emissions. Toxicity of emissions
will be determined later, during at-sea
research burns.
Study Area 1 concerns the development
and testing of a system to expose marine
organisms to hazardous waste incinerator
emissions in order to assess the potential
toxicity of incinerator plumes at sea as they
may come in contact with the marine en-
vironment through air-sea exchange and
initial mixing in seawater. Since this in-
tegrated methodology will ultimately be
used during ocean incineration research
experiments, or "research burns," the
development of such methodology must
result in a mobile, rugged system suitable
for use aboard incinerator ships.
The development and testing of such a
system was designed to occur in two levels
of study. During the Level 1 studies, com-
pleted in 1985, the apparatus for the ac-
quisition of incinerator emissions and the
mixing of these emissions with an aqueous
seawater medium was developed and vali-
dated in the laboratory in field-tested using
a pilot scale combustion chamber.
An emissions sampling train, designed
for direct seawater impingement and emis-
sion condensation was developed for use
in this study to test organic toxicity of in-
cinerator ship emissions collected by
techniques representing ocean exposure.
The resultant Marine Incineration Biological
Assessment Sampler (MIBAS) was labora-
tory-tested and validated during runs that
included gas-phase spikes of Principal
Organic Hazardous Constituents (POHCs)
found in actual polychlorinated biphenyl
(PCB) waste incinerator emissions. The
final sampling train performance was highly
repeatable, with an overall capture of about
50% for characteristic semi-volatile and
non-volatile constituents.
During the Level 1 studies, five toxicity-
test protocols were refined and/or
developed for use in this program: (1) a sea
urchin fertilization test; (2) a chronic test us-
ing macroalgae Champia parvula; (3) a
7-day chronic test using growth and
reproduction of the crustacean Mysidopsis
bahia; (4) a 7-day growth and survival test
with the fish Menidia beryllina; and (5) a
7-day life cycle test using the archiannelid
worm Dinophilus gyrocilatus. These tests,
all applied to simulated hazardous waste
incinerator emissions, proved suitable for
further use.
Water quality adjustments of the MIBAS
samples prior to use of the samples in
bioassays proved critical due to the high
acidity and altered salinity of MIBAS water
samples. Of greatest importance were ad-
justment protocols developed for pH, ionic
strength, and ionic composition ad-
justments. Standard protocols were
developed and were reported elsewhere.
Level 2 of this research was designed to
test this integrated emissions samp-
ling/marine bioassay system on emissions
from a research burn of PCB-containing
wastes conducted at EPA's Combustion
Research Facility in Jefferson, Arkansas.
This land-based testing of the methodology
occurred in March 1986. This report
presents the results of the Level 2, land-
based testing and, together with the Level
1 results previously reported addresses
Items 1, 2, and 3 of Study Area 1 of EPA's
ocean incineration research strategy.
Discussion
The land-based incineration tests per-
formed and reported here were not as suc-
cessful as would have been expected from
the results obtained on pilot studies con-
ducted previously using the same ap-
paratus and techniques. Recovery of
spiked compounds in the spiked MIBAS
samples were low, and several significant
problems were encountered in the perfor-
mance of the toxicity test protocols. The
toxicological tests specified for use in the
ocean incineration research strategy are
suitable for use as important assessment
tools in the future. Modifications to the
Mobile Bioassay Laboratory and some re-
finement of the test protocols are needed
in order to confidently apply these protocols
to at-sea research burns.
The problems encountered in validating
the performance of the MIBAS sampling
system must be overcome before it can be
applied confidently at sea. Additional
validation of the MIBAS train through ad-
ditional field trials, including the use of on-
site chemical determinations followed by
more definitive and rigorous multicom-
pound spiking experiments, is recom-
mended. These additional validation runs
should be performed on the research in-
cinerator under a variety of conditions (e.g.,
hot furnace, fuel oil burn only; hot furnace
chlorinated waste burn) followed by a re-
peat of the land-based toxicological testing
sequence, in order to fully validate this pro-
mising methodology.
-------
P. Boehm, M. Cooke, S. Carr, W. Piispanen, and C. Werme are with Battelle,
Ocean Sciences, Duxbury, MA 02332.
Merrill D. Jackson is the EPA Project Officer (see below).
The complete report, entitled "Testing of Toxicology and Emissions Samp/ing
Methodology for Ocean Incineration of Hazardous Wastes," (Order No. PB
88-219 472/AS; Cost: $32.95, subject to change) will be available only from:
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield. VA 22161
Telephone: 703-487-4650
The EPA Project Officer can be contacted at:
Air and Energy Engineering Research Laboratory
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Center for Environmental Research
Information
Cincinnati OH 45268
U.S. OFFICIAL WAIL-
Official Business
Penalty for Private Use 5300
EPA/600/S7-88/010
'0000329
U
PS
PROTECTION
------- |