| Abstract: | The Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA) in Adams County, Colorado has been identified as a priority site on the Superfund National Priority List. The Program Manager's Office of RMA announced in early 1990 its intention to implement installation of a state-of-the-art incineration plant to treat the most complex and controversial waste stream on the site. Established in 1942, RMA served as an Army manufacturing center for chemical agents such as mustard gas, white phosphorus, napalm, and GB nerve agent. Parts of the site were also leased to Shell Oil Company, which manufactured pesticides and other agricultural chemicals at this location between 1952 and 1982. To support these activities, the Army operated a ninety-three-acre surface impoundment called Basin F for collection and evaporation of chemical wastewaters. As a result of the wide variety of wastes received and concentrated at Basin F and early treatment attempts, its contents became one of the most unusual chemical cocktails known to man. By the time a formal interim response action for remediation was initiated in 1985, the composition of the Basin consisted of a multi-phase fluid and sludge, including super-saturated levels of inorganic salts; 30 percent or more organics such as pesticides, military agent by-products, degradation products, and solvents; high levels of ammonia compounds and bound nitrogen; and percent levels of copper, arsenic, and other metals. Selection of a remedial alternative involved twelve years of characterizationstudies and eleven years of treatability testing programs encompassing the universe of containment; encapsulation; stabilization; component separation; and thermal, electrical, chemical, and biological degradation technologies. The program resulted in the selection of a state-of-the-art down-fired liquid incinerator for destruction of aqueous organic contaminants in metallic salt matrices. The treatability demonstration, and the technical justification for selection of the T-Thermal submerged quench incinerator for this application, is the subject of this article. |
