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Solid Wastes Become 2 Useful Products
The conversion of solid wastes into
fuel gas and salable slag, with reduced
air pollution and projected costs lower
than incineration, is being demonstra-
ted on a pilot scale at Orchard Park,
N.Y., near Buffalo.
The plant employs pyrolysis-
heating without burning—to convert
most of the combustible portion of
the waste into gas and to melt all
metal, glass, and other inorganic por-
tions.
It has been operating for nearly a
year as an EPA demonstration project,
supported by $1.4 million in EPA
grants and $500,000 from other par-
ticipants: Erie County, New York
State, the American Gas Association,
the A. E. Anderson Co., and Torrex
Systems, Inc.
75 Tons Per Day
The plant was designed by the Tor-
rex Systems, a North Tonawanda,
N.Y., firm specializing in refractories
—furnaces and reactors that operate at
very high temperatures. It can handle
75 tons of solid waste per day in a
continuous, round-the-clock process.
The waste comes from Orchard Park
and a number of other communities in
Erie County.
Present operations are not contin-
uous but are interrupted from time to
time to make adjustments and to mea-
sure outputs and internal conditions in
the gasifier, said Edward L. Higgins of
EPA's National Environmental Re-
search Center in Cincinnati. Higgins
was project engineer for the Orchard
Park plant from its design and evalu-
ation stage three years ago until last
October. John Bertke now is EPA pro-
ject officer.
Heart of the system is the gasifier, a
vertical cylindrical furnace about 30
Orchard'Park gasifier turns even bulky
items, stumps and stoves, into fuel gas
and salable slag.
r
feet high, with an inside diameter of
four feet.
Wastes of all kinds are dumped into
a funnel-like hopper at the top. Even
bulky items like tree stumps, tires,
auto body parts, and junked house-
hold appliances are accepted, as long
as one dimension is less than four feet.
Air preheated by natural gas bur-
ners to about 2,000 degrees Fahren-
heit enters the gasifier from below.
The intense heat volatilizes most of
the organic material in the waste into a
fuel gas of high heation value that is
drawn off. The rest of the organic ma-
terial burns, further raising the temper-
ature at some parts of the gasifier to
nearly 3,000 degrees, enough to melt
metals and glass. These form a puddle
at the base of the retort and are drawn
off periodically.
Close control is kept over internal
temperatures and hot air intake so the
right combination of pyrolysis and
combustion is maintained. The layers
of refuse at the gasifier's top serve as a
seal over the hot reactions taking place
below, Higgins said.
The gas produced can be sold as
fuel, burned to make steam for electric
power generation, or used to help heat
the gasifier.
The slag, when quenched with
water, forms a granular inert material
that can be used in highway construc-
tion, and in the manufacture of con-
crete or insulating fiber. Methods of
separating ferrous metals from the slag
are being investigated.
Costs Analyzed
Present costs of operating the pilot
plant are from $12 to $14 per ton of
waste, Higgins said, but it is expected
that the cost could be cut in half for a
larger municipal system. The sale of
byproduct energy (gas or steam) and
slag could further reduce costs.
Cost of controlling air pollutants
for the pyrolysis-combustion process is
expected to be about half that of in-
cineration, since only part of the waste
is burned; the rest is gasified. And
there are no solid residues to be buried
in landfills.
Based on experience so far with the
pilot plant, investigators believe the
(Continued on page 5)
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EPA Warnings: Go Slow on Shale Oil
EPA has warned the Nation to go
slow on plans to develop a shale oil
industry in three Western states.
The warning was issued recently in
Denver when Regional Administrator
John A Green released the agency's
40-page comments on the Interior De-
partment's draft statement on the ex-
pected environmental impact of its
proposed plan to lease some Federal
oil shale lands to private industry.
The Department's program would
allow the mining and processing of oil
shale on six sites in Colorado, Wyo-
ming, and Utah by prototype plants
using various methods of extracting oil
from the shale
Gigantic Resource
The potential fuel reserves in shale
arc many times the total known re-
serves of crude oil, but little is known
jbout the feasibility and costs of re-
covery and the environmental side ef-
fects
Most of the oil shale is on public
kinds administered by Interior, and be-
lorc the Department can lease the
tracts for prototype development it
must file environmental impact state-
ments under the National Environmen-
tal Quality Act
Interior's draft statement was "one
of the most comprehensive we have
reviewed," the EPA comment said, but
nevertheless additional information is
needed
Whether or not sufficient water will
be available for the oil extraction pro-
cess was high on the list of deficiencies
cited EPA asked the Department to
review in greater detail the amount of
water that would be needed and com-
pare its projections with the amount
of water available in the basin of the
upper Colorado River. Department es-
timates of water needs do not agree
with those of Colorado State agencies,
EPA pointed out.
Shutdown Provision
EPA also suggested that proposed
leases be reworded to provide for the
immediate shutdown of prototype
plants if they should present "insur-
mountable environmental hazards."
Current provisions, EPA said, appear
to assure operators that they can con-
tinue under any conditions.
Other potential effects of oil shale
development that should be more
thoroughly analyzed, EPA said,
include:
• Air pollution from oil extraction
plants, especially the control or
dispersion of sulfur dioxide and
participate matter.
• Disposal of spent shale, the
crushed rock and dust left after
the kerogen, an oil-bearing, wax-
like substance, is extracted.
• Toxic chemicals from processing.
• The potential increase in salinity
in the Colorado River.
EPA also would like Interior to re-
quire companies leasing public lands to
do environmental studies as part of
their development plans for the leased
area. How an oil shale industry's water
use would affect downstream water
quality and quantity; whether oil shale
development would preclude other de-
velopment in the high Colorado basin;
and whether it would encourage de-
pendence on fossil fuels, reducing in-
terest in alternative energy sources, are
other questions EPA would like dis-
cussed in the final impact statement.
'Almost Certain'
Regional Administrator Green said,
"Some pollution is almost certain to
come from an oil shale industry, and
we would like Interior to further dis-
cuss the effects of that pollution on air
and water quality, vegetation, and
wildlife in the area."
"We are also asking for evaluation
of comparative impacts of alterna-
tives . for oil shale, such as reducing
energy demand, increasing domestic
oil and gas production, gasifying coal,
and generating electricity by coal or
'nuclear power or both," Green said
"We've asked Interior to investigate
the economic feasibility of developing
oil shale on private lands alone, versus
feasibility of present plans which
would see development on public and
private lands."
Green said EPA also seeks a defini-
tion of the role of the public and the
Field Oil Shale Task Force (an inter-
agency body) in reviewing develop-
ment plans and overseeing lease opera-
tions.
Green said EPA's comments do not
"represent a position" on the basic
question of whether or not to develop
the oil shale resource.
"We feel our comments, and the
Department of Interior's continued
study.. .should help Interior make
that ultimate decision concerning the
issuance of leases for development,"
he concluded.
ACID WASTES
The Georgia Water Quality
Board has approved a chemical
company's plan to neutralize and
reuse its sulfuric acid wastes, rather
than dump them far out at sea.
The wastes from the American
Cyanamid Co.'s titanium dioxide
plant at Savannah contain highly
toxic iron sulfate, and are produced
at the rate of 7.5 million gallons a
month.
Cyanamid has been under State
orders not to dump the wastes in
the Savannah River, but it has been
unable to get permission from the
Army Corps of Engineers to barge
them 83 miles out to sea. South
Carolina officials protested that
costal currents might carry the
wastes into fertile fishing areas.
Under the new plan, a building
materials manufacturer, Universal
Chemicals and Minerals Corp,
would use the neutralized wastes to
make gypsum wall board and ce-
ment The gypsum plant would be
built and operating in two years
and would create about 70 new
jobs for Savannah area residents.
Cyanamid has withdrawn its
ocean dumping application
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This "Cape Code house" in Freehold, N.J. hides an advanced, Inside is a maze of machinery to remove and incinerate
automated sewage treatment plant for a housing development, solids and treat 50,000 gallons of waste per day.
Self-Gontained Waste Plant
Concealed in Small Cottage
A self-contained, pollution-free
sewage treatment plant that can be
built and operated close to the homes
it serves is now undergoing its trial run
in a suburban area at Freehold, N.J.
The plant was designed and built by
AWT Systems, Inc., of Wilmington,
Del., for a Levitt and Sons housing
development that now has only 20
homes, though it is expected to grow
to 145.
EPA is supporting the project with
a demonstration grant to Levitt of
$250,000 a year and a half ago.
The system is highly automated, re-
quiring only the part-time services of
one operator. Advanced physical and
chemical processes are used to remove
sewage solids and purify the waste
water so it is "considerably higher" in
quality than the stream into which it
discharged, a tributary of the Mana-
squan River. Solids and sludge are not
treated by bacterial action, but are
burned completely in an incinerator
equipped with advanced air pollution
control devices.
The waste water treatment includes
adding powdered iron oxide to the
water after conventional flocculation
and clarifying. When the water then
passes through a magnetic filter, the
iron oxide is attracted to the magne-
tized surfaces, entraining suspended
solids that managed to get by the clar-
ifer.
Finally the water passes through a
column of activated carbon which ab-
sorbs the remaining dissolved organic
materials, and is chlorinated before
discharge.
Screened solids and sludge from all
stages of the waste water processing
are fed through a sand filter for de-
watering. The sand then carries the
solids into a fluidized bed incinerator,
fired by oil. All combustion gases go
through a cyclone dust collector and a
wet scrubber before being discharged.
Everything Recycled
The system provides for the recycl-
ing of all water, sand, and carbon used
in processing. For the carbon used in
the final water treatment, recycling in-
volved a different type of burning in
the incinerator. Normal incineration is
halted about once a month for two
days. Spent carbon drawn from the
bottom of the absorber column is fed
into the incinerator and heated to
drive off the absorbed organic materi-
als. The regenerated carbon is then
fed back into the top of the column.
Holding tanks for incoming waste
water and for screened solids and
sludge permit shutting down the pro-
cess for carbon regeneration, for main-
tenance work, or simply for adjusting
the flow of sewage through the sys-
tem.
The builders say the Freehold plant
demonstrates one solution to the prob-
lem of overburdened city sewage treat-
ment systems. Freehold has a mora-
torium on new connections to the lo-
cal sewer tines, and Levitt could not
otherwise have started its housing de-
velopment. Similar plants could serve
such remote areas as camp grounds,
national parks, or rest stops on inter-
state highways, the company said.
Irwin J. Kugelman, EPA project
officer from NERC-Cincinnati, said
the Freehold plant has been under-
going "de-bugging" tests and operating
intermittently since it was formally
dedicated in November. The liquid
treatment portion of the system is
now in continuous operation and al-
most fully automatic.
The de-bugging is now concentrated
on the solids handling section, after
repair of cracked wall in the fluidized-
bed incinerator.
The plant has been using some
waste from the Freehold municipal
system, Dr. Kugelman said, since the
number of occupied homes in the de-
velopment did not produce enough
sewage for the shakedown tests.
The plant is designed to treat
50,000 gallons of waste water per day,
enough to serve a community of 800
people. More than $500,000 has been
spent most of which involved one-time
costs for research and development.
An AWT spokesman said a plant of
similar capacity could now be built for
"about $200,000."
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Sulfur Reclaimed From Utility Staff
Construction is nearly complete on
a full-scale demonstration plant to
reclaim sulfur dioxide from flue gases
at an Illinois Power Co. generating
station at Kast Alton, 111.
liPA supporting funds of $3.5 mil-
lion arc paying about half of the
plant's cost, according to Gilbert
llasclberger, project officer, who is
with EPA's Control Systems Labora-
tory at Research Triangle Park, N.C.
The power company is paying the
rest.
Shakedown Tests
The plant builders and designers,
Monsanto Enviro-Chem Systems, Inc.,
arc conducting shakedown tests of the
equipment and will turn it over to the
power company when it is operating at
its guaranteed levels of performance:
hotter than W percent particle re-
moval and 85 percent removal of sul-
fur oxides. This stage is expected to be
reached this summer, Haselberger said.
The complex structure is 137 feet
long, 126 feet wide, and 110 feet high,
nearly equal to an I 1-story building
occupying half of a football field. It is
designed to take all the combustion
gases from boiler no. 4 of the Illinois
Power Company's Wood River Plant.
This coal-fired boiler supplies steam
for 1 10-megawatt generator.
The sulfur extracted from the stack
gases is recovered as sulfuric acid, a
widely used industrial chemical that
can be sold to help offset the cost of
the treatment process.
Haselberger said the plant is attract-
ing much attention from the electric
utility industry as a demonstration of
one method of curbing sulfur oxide air
pollution from existing power plants.
Other methods are also being in-
vestigated, as EPA and the electric
power industry strive to develop con-
trol technology. These include both
precombustion methods switching
to low-sulfur fuels, desulfurizing coal
and oil, or gasifying such fuels - and
post-combustion methods - scrubbing
flue gases with slurries or solutions of
calcium, sodium, or magnesium com-
pounds.
Equipment for removing particles and sulfur from the stack gas of a
110-megawatt power plant fits beside stack, right, and in from of boiler unit, the
tall building in the background. Rectangular unit in mid-background is the
electrostatic precipitator. Peaked-roof structure houses converter and heaters;
cylinder contains equipment to make sulfuric acid from sulfur trioxide.
Relative costs can only be esti-
mated by laboratory experiments, he
said. Full-scale demonstrations are
needed before costs and practical feasi-
bility can be established.
A Chemical Factory
The Wood River demonstration in
effect adds a specialized chemical fac-
tory at the downstream end of the
coal-fired boiler. Flue gases f om the
boiler first pass through a high-effi-
ciency electrostatic precipitator to col-
lect and remove particulates-smoke
and dust particles.
The flue gas leaving the boiler at
325 degrees Fahrenheit contains sulfur
in the form of sulfur dioxide. It must
be raised in temperature to 850 de-
grees before conversion to sulfur tri-
oxide can take place, in a process
called catalytic oxidation.
The heating is accomplished in
three stages, using reheat burners and
heat exchanger. To increase efficiency,
(Continued on page 5)
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New Booklet Series Outlines Successful
Control Methods
First of a series of reports on suc-
cessful techniques of pollution control
has been issued by EPA's Technology
Transfer program
Called "Capsule Reports," the at-
tractively printed booklets are de-
signed to show industrial managers
how a new process works, its esti-
mated costs, its effects on produc-
tivity, and its possible applications to a
variety of industries different from the
one for which it was developed.
Each Capsule Report will be backed
by detailed technical reports for engi-
neering personnel, said Robert Crowe,
head of the Technology Transfer pro-
gram
The reports will be issued as fast as
the pollution control processes arc
proven effective, Crowe said. Publi-
cation of seven more are expected this
year, and "about ten" next year All
will deal with industrial techniques for
reducing pollution, saving and reusing
resources, improving efficiency, or var-
ious combinations of these goals
The first report describes a saving
zinc method of recycling zinc in the
manufacture of rayon yarns. It was
developed under a 5283,000 EPA
demonstration grant by the American
Enka Co. at Enka, N.C.
More than 50 million pounds of
zinc sulfate arc used annually in the
United States as a retardant in the acid
bath in which cellulose is "spun" into
viscose rayon fibers Since none of the
zinc enters into the fiber formation.
the zinc consumed represents losses
zinc sulfate which clings to the emerg-
ing fibers and is later washed away.
backwash from filters, splashes, and
leaks.
No practical method of recovering
this zinc existed until the new process
of two-stage precipitation was devel-
oped In the first stage, the rayon
waste waters are treated to precipitate
iron and calcium compounds and
other impurities A second precip-
itation produces a dense sludge con-
taining 4 to 7 percent zinc which is
converted back to zinc sulfate and re-
turned to the spinning bulh
Costs Reduced
The process offers production cost
savings as well as pollution reduction,
the report says, and it could help pre-
serve the world's limited resources of
metallic zinc Known reserves arc suf-
ficient to last about 23 years at
present rates of usage
Although only 10 US firms manu-
facture viscose rayon, zinc-rich wastes
arc produced by many others indus-
tries, e.g , ground-wood pulp making,
metal palling, zinc refining, and rear-
culatmg water systems EPA specialists
believe the new process may be adapt-
ed to them
Sulfur Reclaimed From Stack
(Continued from page 4)
waste heat from the hotter stages is
passed down to the cooler ones.
After the third stage the hot gas
passes through a catalytic-bed con-
verter where almost all the sulfur is
oxidized to sulfur tnoxide. It then
goes to an absorbing tower where
water is added to convert the sulfur
tnoxide to sulfunc acid.
A mist eliminator section filters out
any remaining particles of acid before
the cleaned gas goes to the stack.
The sulfuric acid product is rated
"weak"-about 77 percent acid—but it
can be used "as is" in many industrial
processes, or further concentrated in a
separate operation.
The Wood River project has been
almost three years in the making A
contract for preliminary design and
evaluation was let in June, 1970, by
EPA's predecessor agency, the Na-
tional Air Pollution Control Adminis-
tration. The construction contract was
awarded in October of that year.
After the plant is completed and
accepted, EPA will conduct a year-
long program of testing and evalua-
tion The plant will be operated under
a wide range of conditions, Hascl-
berger said, to provide data useful to
the industry and helpful to EPA in
establishing emission standards for
coal-fired utility boilers.
The Technology Transfci proguni
was initiated two ycjrs ago by EPA's
Office of Research and Monitoring
after Agency officials noticed that
many applications for waste treatment
construction grants were not up-to-
date technically The piogram seeks to
promote new technology aggicssivcly,
and acrosscatcgonc.il b.imcis
Technology Seminars
The program's early emphasis was
on municipal sewage treatment prob-
lems, but it has been broadened to
include industrial waste treatment, :nr
pollution control, and solid waste
management More than 20 Technol-
ogy Transfer seminars have been held
for some 2,500 engineers and man-
agers from States, cities, and private
industry The seminars arc organized
and conducted by the Technology
Transfer staff of seven professional
engineers, supported by specialists
from EPA's National Environmental
Research Centers, Regional Offices,
and private consultants
Copies of the Capsule Reports and
other more technical publications arc
available from Technology Transfer,
EPA, Washington, D.C 20460 The
program's offices arc in Russlyn, Va.,
telephone (703) 552-0851.
Pyrolysis Plant
(Continued from page I)
system could be operated al 25 to 50
percent less than the cost of operating
a conventional, municipal incinerator,
depending on byproduct revenues. In-
cinerators now cost from $10 to $12
per ton lo operate
Capital costs, they estimate, would
also be lower, about 30 percent, since
the pyrolysis-combustion system is
much smaller than an incinerator of
similar capacity.
EPA's participation in the Orchard
Park demonstration will end June 30,
when the plant will be Erie County's
responsibility.
The Agency is sponsoring two other
demonstrations of pyrolysis systems
for solid waste disposal, one in Balti-
more, Md., and one in San Diego
County, Calif
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New-Plant Standards To Be
Set For 27 Industries This Yr.
Effluent regulations for new plants
in 27 high-pollution industries will be
established by EPA before Jan 16,
1974.
This deadline was set last month
when the Agency published in the
Federal Register the industry list sug-
gested in the Federal Water Pollution
Control Act Amendments of 1972,
which became law last October.
Under the law, EPA must issue
standards of performance requiring the
"best available demonstrated control
technology. . . including, where prac-
ticable, a standard permitting no dis-
charge of pollutants" within one year
of announcing the list.
The standards will apply only to
new plants and production facilities in
those industries.
The list covers a wide range of raw
material and primary project indus-
tries, all known to have major pol-
lution problems It includes
Steam-electric power plants.
Four metal industries iron and
steel manufacturing, ferroalloys, non-
ferrous metals, and electroplation.
Six chemical industries: organic
chemicals, inorganic chemicals, plastics
and synthetics, soaps and detergents,
fertilizers, and phosphates.
Eight agricultural and food indus-
tries meat products and rendering,
live stock fccdlots, leather tanning and
finishing, dairy product processing,
grain mills, canned and preserved fruits
and vegetables, canned and preserved
seafood, and sugar processing
Three wood-related industries tim-
ber products, pulp and paper mills,
and pa per board and builders paper
mills.
Five other raw material industries.
petroleum refining, cement manufac-
turing, glass and asbestos manufac-
turing, rubber processing, and textile
mills.
Additional categories are expected
to be published later by EPA, and
standards for them must be established
within a year of publication.
EPA Checks Radiation Effects
Of Nuclear Testing In China
Small temporary increases in air-
borne radioactivity in the western
States from a nuclear test in China last
year are reported by EPA's Office of
Radiation Programs in the February
issue of Radiation Data and Reports.
Detonation of a nuclear device hav-
ing an estimated yield of less than 20
kilotons (TNT equivalent) was an-
nounced by the Atomic Energy Com-
mission shortly after its occurrence on
Jan 7,1972
During the following three weeks
the progress and intensity of the radio-
activity were monitored by EPA's Air-
borne Surveillance Network, based at
the National Environmental Research
Center at Las Vegas, Nev.
From data obtained at 103 routine
ASN sampling stations in 21 western
States, plus 10 standby stations, EPA
scientists calculated the increase in dif-
ferent kinds of radiation dose to
people in the area.
The highest "hypothetical infant
thyroid dose equivalent" resulting
from inhalation was about 1.2 milli-
rems at Pueblo, Colo This dose is
about two-tenths of one percent of the
Federal Radiation Council standard.
Highest hypothetical infant thyroid
"mgcstion dose," from increased ra-.
dioactivity m milk, was about 10 mil-
lircms at Laramie. Wvo., 2 percent of
the standard.
The eastward movement of the ra-
dioactivity is illustrated with maps like
those used by weather forecasters.
R B. Evans, R. N. Snellmg, and F
N. Buck are authors of the article
The same three men, all associated
with NERC-Las Vegas, had an article
in last month's issue of Radiation Data
and Reports giving a similar dose as-
sessment from a Chinese nuclear test
on Nov. 18, 1971.
4 COMPANIES
IN RANKLINE
ENGINE RACE
Four companies are now in the race
to demonstrate a Rankme-cycle engine
that might provide low-pollution
power for future automobiles.
EPA announced last month that
Lear Motors Corp., Leareno, Nev., has
been awarded a $900,000, fixed-fee
contract to demonstrate a 100- horse-
power steam-and-turbme engine.
The Lear engine is to be completed
within nine months. It will then be
compared with three other Rankine
engines, being developed under other
EPA contracts, to see which type
could be picked for further develop-
ment and construction of a prototype.
A vehicle powered by a prototype
of the winning design is expected to be
operating by the end of 1975.
On Rankine engines, fuel is burned
outside the engine itself, and the fluid
which does the work (by expanding
and contracting and causing some me-
chanical parts to move) flows contin-
ually in a closed loop. Some early
steam-powered automobiles used Ran-
kine-cycle engines.
The four competitor's designs em-
ploy two different working fluids
(water and a synthetic organic fluid
like that used in refrigeration systems)
and two ways of convertion fluid pres-
sure to mechanical energy (the recipro-
cation piston and the rotating tur-
bine)
The Lear engine will use a water and
a turbine. Steam Engine Systems Co.,
Watertown, Mass., is working on a
water-and-piston engine, Thermo Elec-
tron Corp., Waltham, Mass , on an or-
gamc-fluid-reciprocating engine, and
AeroJct Liquid Rocket Co., Sacra-
mento, Calif, on an orgamc-fluid-tur-
bme engine.
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Outfalls, Deep Wells Ok'd NJ. Drivers
For Florida Waste Projects jjJnaFursetcTests
Clearing the way for release or
about $20 million in Federal funds Tor
sewage plant construction in three
Florida counties, EPA recently ap-
proved of ocean outfalls and deep well
injection of treated wastes as "environ-
mentally compatible."
Region IV Administrator Jack E
Ravan issued the decision in the form
of environmental impact statements
for sewage plant construction and im-
provement projects in Dade, Broward,
and Palm Beach Counties in southern
Florida.
Public hearings scheduled late in
January in West Palm Beach, Fort Lau-
derdale, and Miami were the last hur-
dles required by the National Environ-
mental Quality Act before the funds-
appropriated for the fiscal year ending
last June—can be released to the State
and local governments involved
"Ocean outfalls are considered as
an interim solution," Ravan said, until
better methods of reuse and reclama-
tion are developed
Outfalls are long underwater pipes
extending far enough into the ocean so
that discharges are carried into deeper
water Injection wells are deep holes
reaching to porous strata geologically
isolated from water-bearing sands and
gravels.
Both methods were approved as
"environmentally sound" according to
the "best thinking of EPA on the sta-
tus of disposal methods" at the pre-
sent time.
The EPA Bulletin is published
monthly by the Office of Public
Affairs to inform State and
local environmental officials of
EPA's research, standard-set-
ting, and enforcement activi-
ties.
The Bulletin will welcome let-
ters, contributed articles, and
photos suitable to its purpose
and audience.
Van V. Trumbull, Editor
Room W239, Waterside
Mall
Washington, D.C. 20460
Tel. (202) 755-0883
Specifically ruled out for southern
Florida were a number of other dis-
posal methods
• On-land disposal and septic
tanks
• Shallow injection wells.
• Discharge into canals or the In-
tercoastal Waterway
• Discharge into Great Cypress
Swamp or the Everglades
The impact statements issued by
Ravan did not deal with specific pro-
jects in the three counties except for a
proposed sewage plant in West Palm
Beach This proposal calls for substan-
tially complete removal of grit and
solids, 90 percent removal of organic
materials, 99 percent disinfection of
bacteria, 90 percent destruction of vi-
ruses, and provision for future ad-
dition of facilities for more advanced
waste water treatment.
New Jersey car owners can get their
car's exhaust tested free at one oil
company's service stations as well js at
the official state inspection stations
Other major gasoline dealers are ex-
pected to follow the example of the
Atlantic Richfield Company, which re-
cently installed the inspection devices
in 60 of its stations which arc located
near the official stale inspection
points
Richard J. Sullivan, State Commis-
sioner of Environmental Protect ion,
commended the firm for its free test
service, designed to help car owners
pass the State test for carbon mon-
oxide and hydrocarbons.
Until next July, owners of cars
which fail the test arc not required to
return for rcinspcction, although they
arc encouraged to do so Beginning
July I, rcinspcclion will be mandatory
for all curs that fail the test
Recent EPA Publications
Control Strategies for In-Use Vehic-
les, 203 p, December, 1972 Sum-
marizes available information on re-
ducing pollutant emissions by engine
inspection and maintenance, conver-
sion to low-polluting fuels, and retrofit
of control devices Mobile Source Pol-
lution Control Office, EPA, Washing-
ton, D.C.20460
Transportation Controls - Urban
Strategies for Clean Air, 16 p , Decem-
ber, 1972. This "briefing document
for citizens" discusses various propo-
sals for reducing automotive air pol-
lution in cities by limiting vehicle use.
Benefits and drawbacks of each pro-
posal are outlined. Mobile Source Pol-
lution Control Office, EPA, Washing-
ton, D C. 20460.
Inventory of Interstate Carrier
Water Supply Systems, 84 p , July,
1972. List all water systems fully or
provisionally approved for use by in-
terstate public carriers buses, trains,
airlines, and ships Provisional ap-
provals are classified by type of de-
ficiency found Limited copies avail-
able from Water Supply Division, Of-
fice of Air and Water Programs, EPA,
Washington, D C 20460
Aircraft Emissions Impact on Air
Quality and Feasibility of Control. 99
+ vin p, n d Summarises recent
studies of air pollution levels at several
major U.S. airports and assesses the
technical feasibility of various pro-
posed methods of reducing aircraft
emissions Office of Air Programs,
EPA, Research Triangle Park, NC
27711
Concept Evaluation Recovery of
Floating Oil Using Polyurethanc Foam
Sorbent, 97 + vm p , September, 1972.
A study under an EPA contract by
Battelle Memorial Institute, Richland,
Wash , of an oil spill clean-up system
using shredded plastic foam that is
spread on the slick, collected and
squeezed to remove the oil, and re-
broadcast to use again Office of Re-
search and Monitoring, EPA, Washing-
ton, DC 20460.
Toxicology of Atmospheric Sulfur
Dioxide Decay Products, 42 + vi p ,
July, 1972 Summarizes current re-
search on health effects on animals
(Continued on back page)
-7-
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EPA Publications
(Continued from page 7)
Fuel Economy and Emission Con-
trol, 24 p., November, 1972. Fuel
economy tests on 2,087 uutos, of
model years 1957 through 1973 in 11
different weight classes, were analyzed
to determine cause of reduced miles-
pcr-gallon. Conclusions vehicle weight
increases (common in American cars
of same model from one year to the
next) cut most heavily into fuel econ-
omy, up to 30 percent Air condi-
tioning is next, 9 to 20 percent, emis-
sion controls, about 7 percent, and
automatic transmissions, about 6 per-
cent Mobile Source Pollution Control
Office, EPA, Washington, D C 20460.
Full Scale Parallel Activated Sludge
Process Evaluation, 203 + XH p., Nov-
ember, 1972 Compares performance
of sewage sludge treatment systems
operating in parallel under completely
-mixed and plug-flow modes at Free-
port, III The former mode performed
belter under shock load conditions
Office of Research and Monitoring,
b-PA, Washington, D.C 20460
The Kale of Sludge Worms in
EutropniLalton, 67 + vm p., August,
1972. A study under an EPA contract
by zoologists at the University of
Toronto showed that sludge worms in
a grossly polluted harbor feed selec-
tively on bacteria and other organic
pollutants, efficient assimilation of
pollutants depends less on their carbon
content than on having a mix of worm
species to feed on them Office of Re-
search and Monitoring, EPA, Wash-
ington, D C. 20460
Summaries of Foreign Government
Environmental Reports, No 3, 27 p ,
November, 1972r One of a new series
listing documents of foreign govern-
ments and international organizations
received at EPA's Headquarters Li-
brary under exchange agreements The
scries concentrates on legislative, econ-
omic, and social aspects, supple-
menting the scientific and technical
abstracts available from other EPA in-
formation services Library Systems
Branch, EPA, Washington, D.C.
20460.
EPA Publishes
Grants Register
A register listing all EPA grants for
fiscal 1972 was published recently by
the Grants Administration Division,
Office of Planning and Management.
The 327-page looseleaf document
lists, alphabetically by State, every
grant issued by the Agency during the
year ending June 30, 1972, for re-
search, training, construction, and
demonstration. Each entry includes
the project's title, grantee's name, lo-
cation, date of award, dollar amount,
and whether the grant is for a new or
continuing project
A limited number of copies are
available from the Government Print-
ion Office, Washington, D.C. 20460.
Starting this month quarterly com-
pilations of fiscal 1973 grants will be
issued. The first quarterly EPA grants
register, for July through September,
1972, can be obtained from the Na-
tional Technical Information Service,
Springfield, Va., 22151.
Use of funds for printing this publication approved by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Dec 6. 1971).
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