Results of the NATO-CCMS Pilot Study

The NATO Council has in November, 1979, on the occasion of its autumn session, consented to the final report of the Pilot Study “Air Pollution Assessment Methodology and Modeling” which had been proposed by the Federal Republic of Germany and approved by NATO/CCMS in May, 1976. The recommendations on measures for air pollution control in the NATO member countries contained in the Final Report were adopted unanimously.     

Update on Building and Structure Decontamination

Cleanup of the nation’s hazardous waste sites is a top environmental priority. Since the ultimate objective of many cleanup programs is to return the contaminated site and buildings on the site to active use, additional information regarding both established and emerging technologies for building decontamination is needed.

A pilot scale study was performed at an actual Superfund Site to evaluate, side by side, the efficacy of PCB removal using two decontamination processes. One process entails use of a shotblasting technique in which contaminated concrete surfaces are cut away and physically removed. The other process involves application of an alkali metal/polyethylene glycolate mixture directly to contaminated concrete surfaces for insitu degradation of PCBs.     

Innovative technologies for contaminated site remediation: focus on bioremediation.

Bioremediation, the process by which hazardous substances are degraded by microorganisms, is at the forefront of a larger group of innovative remediation technologies being applied at hazardous waste sites worldwide. Although the process of bioremediation has been utilized for decades in the field of wastewater engineering, its application to soils and groundwater at hazardous waste sites is fairly new and still undergoing intensive development. This article is intended to provide both an overview of the state of practice of bioremediation in hazardous waste remediation operations, and an inventory of issues to consider when evaluating the use of this technology for a contaminated site. These topics will be the subject matter of a unique Bioremediation Satellite seminar to be broadcast on January 9, 1992. The seminar, a joint venture between the Air and Waste Management Association (A&WMA) and the Hazardous Waste Action Coalition (HWAC), is the first in a series of satellite seminars that will deal with innovative hazardous waste remediation technologies. The intent of these seminars is to design programs which will make hazardous waste practitioners more familiar with innovative remediation technologies so that they will consider using the technologies in future clean-up operations.     

Innovative Technologies for Contaminated Site Remediation: Focus on Bioremediation

Bioremediation, the process by which hazardous substances are degraded by microorganisms, is at the forefront of a larger group of innovative remediation technologies being applied at hazardous waste sites worldwide. Although the process of bioremediation has been utilized for decades in the field of wastewater engineering, its application to soils and groundwater at hazardous waste sites is fairly new and still undergoing intensive development.

This article is intended to provide both an overview of the state of practice of bioremediation in hazardous waste remediation operations, and an inventory of issues to consider when evaluating the use of this technology for a contaminated site.

These topics will be the subject matter of a unique Bioremediation Satellite seminar to be broadcast on January 9, 1992. The seminar, a joint venture between the Air and Waste Management Association (A&WMA) and the Hazardous Waste Action Coalition (HWAC), is the first in a series of satellite seminars that will deal with innovative hazardous waste remediation technologies. The intent of these seminars is to design programs which will make hazardous waste practitioners more familiar with innovative remediation technologies so that they will consider using the technologies in future clean-up operations.     

NATO/CCMS Pilot study workshop on air pollution trarfsport and diffusion over coastal urban areas

The NATO/CCMS Pilot Study “Air pollution transport and diffusion over coastal urban areas” held an international workshop in Athens, 3–5 May 1993. The objective of this workshop was to develop guidelines for it reference experiment in a coastal urban area. It was intended that the guidelines would be sufficiently general that they could be applied to any coastal urban area, but Athens was bome in mind as a suitable candidate location. On the first day of the workshop, invited speakers delivered their lectures on different issues of dispersion in urban coastal areas. The second day was devoted to discussions in working groups focusing on key issues, such as, emissions' inventory, meteorological measurements, surface pollutant concentration measurements, aircraft measurements, remote sensing and model evaluation. On the final half-day the rapporteur from each working group reported on its work. Their reports are briefly summarized in the present paper.     

Control of incidental asbestos exposure at hazardous waste sites

This paper discusses asbestos regulations that are not part of Superfund and examines how these regulations can help to identify, evaluate and manage the risk associated with Asbestos Containing Material (ACM) at hazardous waste cleanup sites. Unless one knows where to look for ACM at hazardous waste sites, it may go undetected even after all the traditional sampling is done. Although EPA is currently developing a policy for evaluating risk from asbestos exposure at certain Superfund sites, information from existing regulations can be used to manage hazards associated with asbestos exposure at hazardous waste sites. This paper also identifies where to find governmental agency personnel and consultants who may be retained for site-specific help.     

原位热处理技术修复重质非水相液体污染场地研究进展

重质非水相液体(DNAPLs)是土壤及地下水中广泛存在的有机污染物,原位热处理技术是目前修复受DNAPLs污染土壤及地下水的最具潜力的技术之一。综述了国内外常用原位热处理技术的基本原理及其影响因素,介绍了相关现场应用实例,并展望了该技术未来的应用前景和发展趋势,以期为中国污染土壤及地下水的原位修复提供有益借鉴。     

Towards sets of hazardous waste indicators. Essential tools for modern industrial management

Decision-makers require useful tools, such as indicators, to help them make environmentally sound decisions leading to effective management of hazardous wastes. Four hazardous waste indicators are being tested for such a purpose by several countries within the Sustainable Development Indicator Programme of the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development. However, these indicators only address the 'down-stream' end-of-pipe industrial situation. More creative thinking is clearly needed to develop a wider range of indicators that not only reflects all aspects of industrial production that generates hazardous waste but considers socio-economic implications of the waste as well. Sets of useful and innovative indicators are proposed that could be applied to the emerging paradigm shift away from conventional end-of-pipe management actions and towards preventive strategies that are being increasingly adopted by industry often in association with local and national governments. A methodological and conceptual framework for the development of a core-set of hazardous waste indicators has been developed. Some of the indicator sets outlined quantify preventive waste management strategies (including indicators for cleaner production, hazardous waste reduction/minimization and life cycle analysis), whilst other sets address proactive strategies (including changes in production and consumption patterns, eco-efficiency, eco-intensity and resource productivity). Indicators for quantifying transport of hazardous wastes are also described. It was concluded that a number of the indicators proposed could now be usefully implemented as management tools using existing industrial and economic data. As cleaner production technologies and waste minimization approaches are more widely deployed, and industry integrates environmental concerns at all levels of decision-making, it is expected that the necessary data for construction of the remaining indicators will soon become available.     

Development of Cleanup Standards at Superfund Sites: An Evaluation of Consistency

The Washington Department of Ecology (WDOE) recently developed a regulatory program for determining cleanup standards at hazardous waste sites. One of WDOE's first tasks in the development of a cleanup standards program was to evaluate how standards have been developed and implemented under Superfund.

The evaluation of cleanup standards revealed: (1) a great deal of variation among sites, both in the magnitude of the standards set for some contaminants and the basis on which they were set, and (2) that there is no consistent decision-making approach for determining how standards should be set. This lack of consistency and guidance has the potential to result in overly stringent or underprotective cleanup requirements and inefficient standard development.

Washington State has adopted an approach that allows for implementing uniform numerical cleanup standards at relatively straightforward sites and provides a process for establishing site-specific cleanup levels at more complex sites. This approach is expected to facilitate development of standards that offer appropriate human health and ecological protection while minimizing private and public sector site management and cleanup costs.     

Development and Demonstration of a Pilot-Scale Debris Washing System

Metallic, masonry, and other solid debris that may be contaminated with hazardous chemicals litter numerous hazardous waste sites in the United States. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides, lead or other metals are some of the contaminants of concern. In some cases, cleanup standards have been established (e.g., 10 μg PCBs/100 cm² for surfaces to which humans may be frequently exposed). Decontaminated debris could be either returned to the site as “clean” fill or, in the case of metallic debris, sold to a metal smelter.

This project involves the development and demonstration of a technology specifically for per forming on-site decontamination of debris. Both bench-scale and pilot-scale versions of a debris washing system (DWS) have been designed, constructed, and demonstrated. The DWS entails the application of an aqueous solution during a high-pressure spray cycle, followed by turbulent wash and rinse cycles. The aqueous cleaning solution is recovered and reconditioned for reuse concurrently with the debris-cleaning process, which minimizes the quantity of process water required to clean the debris.     

1990 Update of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s SITE Emerging Technology Program

The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA) directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish an Alternative/Innovative Treatment Technology Research and Demonstration Program. The EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response and the Office of Research and Development established a program called the Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) Program to accelerate the development and use of innovative cleanup technologies at hazardous waste sites. The SITE Program comprises of five areas: the Demonstration Program, the Emerging Technology Program, the Measurement and Monitoring Technologies Development Program, the Innovative Technologies Program, and the Technology Transfer Program.

This paper discusses the Emerging Technology Program (ETP) that supports the development of technologies that have been successfully tested at bench-scale level. Before a technology can be accepted into the Emerging Technology Program, sufficient data must be available to validate its basic concepts. The ETP enters into a co-funding effort with developers for a one- or two-year effort. Developers are responsible for contributing financial support and conducting the developmental research. After development and data collection, the technology’s performance is documented and a report is prepared, which may include recommendations for further developing the technology. If test results are encouraging, a technology may proceed with approval to a field demonstration.

The purpose of this article is to provide the reader with (1) an introduction to the Emerging Technology Program (2) an understanding of how the program operates (3) a summary of those technologies currently being tested and evaluated under the program and (4) information on how to apply to the program.     

Avoiding Land Disposal of Hazardous Waste

In response to a growing societal mandate, land disposal of hazardous wastes is gradually being replaced by treatment technologies. This shift to "alternative technologies" is the result of the impacts of past land disposal practices on other environmental media (groundwater, surface water, and air). A prime motivation for adopting alternatives to land disposal is to eliminate these cross-media impacts. Alternative technologies, however, can themselves have cross-media environmental impacts which must be recognized and addressed before such technologies are extensively applied. This paper discusses hazardous waste constituents, common disposal practices, alternative technologies currently being applied, possible cross-media environmental impacts of the alternative technologies, and proposed methods of mitigating these environmental impacts. Case studies from uncontrolled hazardous waste sites and industrial operations are used to illustrate the application of alternative technologies. Case studies include the application of waste treatment technologies as well as the adoption of waste minimization techniques.     

Long-Term Trends in Ambient Lead Levels at Five Locations in New Jersey

The authors conducted a survey based on conjoint choice experiments in Milan, Italy, about mortality risk reductions delivered by hypothetical private behaviors and public programs, and used it to estimate the value of a prevented fatality (VPF) when the cause of death is cancer. Their estimate of the VPF is €4.2 million. The VPF is about €1 million larger when the risk reduction is delivered by a public program, but further analyses reveal that it is so only when the respondent believes that public programs are effective at reducing this particular type of mortality risk. This estimate of the VPF is higher than generic European Union–wide figures recommended by the European Commission Directorate-General for Environment (DG Environment) for environmental policy analyses, and is comparable to other VPFs that are appropriate for Italy, hazardous waste regulations, and enforcement-based cleanup programs. The authors use their VPF to compute the benefits of addressing leaking landfills, illegal disposal of hazardous wastes, and poor hazardous waste management practices in the provinces of Naples and Caserta in southern Italy. The authors also examine the importance of the discount rates, since the mortality benefits of remediation begin in 20 yr and are assumed to continue over 30 yr.

Implications: Cost-benefit analysis that includes monetized nonmarket goods and services such as adverse health and premature mortality effects has become a standard tool in project appraisal and policy decision-making. The authors' estimates of the mortality benefits of cleaning up hazardous waste sites in a region of southern Italy are much larger than previous calculations that relied on the guidelines by DG Environment, raising concerns that using one VPF for all member countries of the European Union, and/or VPF figures estimated in a private risk reduction setting, might considerably underestimate the benefits of cleanup policies.     

Bisphenol A in hazardous waste landfill leachates

The levels of bisphenol A in hazardous waste landfill leachates collected in Japan in 1996 were determined by gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS). Bisphenol A was found in seven of 10 sites investigated. All the hazardous waste landfills with leachates contaminated by bisphenol A were controlled. The concentrations of bisphenol A ranged from 1.3 to 17,200 microg/l with a median concentration of 269 microg/l. The source of bisphenol A in landfill leachates may be the waste plastics in waste landfill. The concentrations of bisphenol A in some samples exceeded the EC50 or LC50 levels for aquatic biota. Landfill leachates may be a significant source of bisphenol A found in the environment.     

Guidance for the Field Demonstration of Remediation Technologies

This paper will focus on the demonstration of hazardous waste cleanup technologies in the field. The technologies will be at the pilot- or full-scale, and further referred to as field-scale. The main objectives of demonstration at the field-scale are development of reliable performance and cost data. Technology demonstrations provide performance, cost effectiveness, and reliability data so that potential technology users have sufficient information to make effective decisions as to the applicability of the technology to a specific situation. The demonstration and evaluation of a technology should be conducted with the purpose of characterizing performance, need for pre- and post-processing of the waste feed, identification of waste type and constituents applicable to the technology, system throughput, problems and limitations of the technology, and operating and maintenance costs. Table I provides a summary of remediation activities for demonstration projects.     

典型危险废物的工程力学特性

掌握填埋废物的工程力学特性是确保危险废物填埋堆体稳定性的重要前提条件,因此,针对6种典型危险废物的工程力学特性开展了调查研究.研究结果表明,污泥类危险废物的含水率和有机质含量远高于非污泥类危险废物,而前者的比重则显著低于后者.污泥类危险废物的渗透系数相对较小,比污染土壤和飞灰炉渣混合物的渗透系数小1个数量级,比滤池填料的渗透系数小2个数量级.不同危险废物的无侧限抗压强度排序为:飞灰炉渣混合物(314.3 kPa)和滤池填料(278.9 kPa)＞污染土壤(124.9 kPa)＞杭州氧气厂污泥(68.6 kPa)、锌铬污泥(71.4 kPa)、油泥(58.4 kPa).不同危险废物的粘聚力排序为:飞灰炉渣混合物(40.8 kPa)、滤池填料(31.1 kPa)＞污染土壤(20.9 kPa)＞杭州氧气厂污泥(1.94kPa)、锌铬污泥(3.10 kPa)、油泥(1.81 kPa).此外,不同危险废物的内摩擦角差异相对较小,其变化范围在18.8°～35.0°之间.综合分析可知,飞灰炉渣混合物和滤池填料的工程力学特性较好,而污泥类危险废物的工程力学特性则较差.     

Control Technologies for Remediation of Contaminated Soil and Waste Deposits at Superf und Lead Battery Recycling Sites

This paper primarily addresses remediation of contaminated soils and waste deposits at defunct lead-acid battery recycling sites (LBRS) via immobilization and separation processes. A defunct LBRS is a facility at which battery breaking, secondary lead smelting, or both operations were performed for the primary purpose of reclaiming lead from spent lead-acid batteries. Metallic lead and lead compounds are generally the principal contaminants of concern in soils and waste deposits (i.e., buried, piled, landfilled waste) at these sites. Other metals (e.g., cadmium, copper, arsenic, antimony, and selenium) are often present at LBRS, but usually at much lower concentrations than lead and often present below hazardous concentrations. This article is primarily based on experience gained from: (1) Superfund site investigation, removal, and remedial actions, and (2) development and demonstration of control technologies under the Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) Program. The primary remedial options for lead contaminated soils and waste deposits include: (1) no action, (2) off-site disposal, (3) containment, (4) immobilization, (5) separation with resource recovery, and (6) separation without resource recovery. In spite of the toxicity of lead at low concentrations, the relative immobility of lead and site-specific risk assessments can still result in the selection of no action or containment remedies. Solidification/stabilization of lead-contaminated soils has been implemented at three Superfund sites and is the selected remedy at several others. Separation technologies (e.g., screening, extraction) are attractive because, if successful, they actually remove the contaminant from the environmental media. Separation technologies also offer the possibility that a valuable product (e.g., lead, plastic, energy) can be recovered, but careful consideration of economic and technical factors are required. Compared to the implementation of containment and solidification I stabilization remedies, separation technologies tend to be relatively novel, complex, and costly.     

Factors influencing appropriate management of household hazardous waste in Nakhon Nayok,Thailand: A multilevel analysis

Household hazardous products contain hazardous chemicals, so when discarding these products a household hazardous waste (HHW) stream is created. HHW is a major environmental problem in Thailand, yet HHW has received scant attention so management is often inadequate or inappropriate. The objective of this study was to investigate the factors associated with appropriate HHW management in Thailand. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire completed during randomly assigned household interviews in Nakhon Nayok province, Thailand, between February and May 2017. The proportion of “appropriate management” was presented as percentage with its 95% confidence interval (CI). A multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression model was performed to determine the factors associated with appropriate HHW management, with 663 households included. The proportion of appropriate HHW management was 23.4% (95%CI: 20.2% to 26.6%). Both individual and local government administrative organization factors had on an effect on appropriate HHW management, including (a) being female (adjusted odds ratio [OR]:1.59; 95%CI: 1.03 to 2.46); (b) household size (adjusted OR: 1.66; 95%CI: 1.09 to 2.54); (c) knowledge score vis-à-vis HHW management (adjusted OR: 1.78; 95%CI: 1.43 to 2.02); (d) appropriate HHW storage behavior (adjusted OR: 2.48; 95%CI: 1.60 to 3.83); and (e) appropriate HHW use behavior (adjusted OR: 3.97; 95%CI: 2.40 to 6.58). The government of Thailand might consider a program to increase appropriate management of household hazardous waste to mitigate public health and environmental contamination risks.

Implications: Household hazardous waste becomes a major concern in many countries, including Thailand. The household hazardous waste management should be started at the source first, because household hazardous waste is mixed with the municipal waste stream. Thus, this study finding will be important for policymakers such as government and local government and can be used to create a specific policy and campaigns for household hazardous waste management.     

Treatment of Nonhazardous Petroleum-Contaminated Soils by Thermal Desorption Technologies

Spills, leaks, and accidental discharges of petroleum products have contaminated soil at thousands of sites in the United States. One remedial action technique for treating petroleum contaminated soil is the use of thermal desorption technologies.

This paper describes key elements of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report titled “Thermal Desorption Applications Manual for Treating Nonhazardous Petroleum Contaminated Soils.”¹ The applications manual describes the types, mechanical and operating characteristics of thermal desorption technologies that are commercially available to treat petroleum-contaminated soils. It also provides step-by-step procedures to rate the critical success factors influencing the general applicability of thermal desorption at a particular site. These factors include site, waste and soil characteristics, regulatory requirements, and process equipment design and operating characteristics. Procedures are provided to determine the types of thermal desorption systems that are most technically suitable for a given application and to determine whether on-site or off-site treatment is likely to be the most cost-effective alternative. Key factors that determine process economics are identified, and estimated cost ranges for treating petroleum-contaminated soils are presented. Spreadsheets are provided that can be used for performing cost analyses for specific applications.

The aforementioned report is applicable only to the treatment of petroleum-contaminated soils that are exempt from being classified as hazardous wastes under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) or as toxic materials under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Although much of the technical discussion in this paper is applicable to the treatment of both nonhazardous and hazardous ortoxic materials, permitting requirements and treatment costs are significantly different forthe individual categories of waste materials.