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EPA/540-R-97/506a

Geotech Development Corporation Cold Top
Ex-Situ Vitrification Technology

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Geotech Development Corporation Cold Top Ex-Situ Vitrification Technology (142K)


ABSTRACT

Geotech Development Corporation Cold Top
Ex-Situ Vitrification Technology
SITE Technology Capsule
EPA/540-R-97/506a
March 1998

A SITE technology demonstration was conducted in February and March 1997 to evaluate the potential applicability and effectiveness of the Geotech Cold Top ex-situ vitrification technology on chromium-contaminated soils. The demonstration was conducted using the vitrification furnace at Geotech's pilot plant in Niagara Falls, New York. Chromium-contaminated soil from two state Super-fund sites in the Jersey City, New Jersey, area was collected, crushed, sieved, dried, mixed with carbon and sand, and shipped to the Geotech pilot plant. The SITE demonstration consisted of one vitrification testrun on soil from each site. During each test, solid and gas samples were collected from various locations in the Cold Top system and analyzed for several chemical and physical parameters. In addition, process monitoring data were recorded. During the demonstration, the Cold Top system treated approximately 10,000 pounds of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) characteristic-hazardous soil contaminated with trivalent and hexavalent chromium and other metals.

One primary and five secondary objectives were identified for the SITE demonstration. The primary objective was to develop test data to evaluate whether the waste and product streams from the Cold Topvitrification system pilot plant were capable of meeting the EPA RCRA definitions of a nonhazardous waste, based on the stream's leachable chromium content. Secondary objectives were to determine the following: (1) partitioning of total and hexavalent chromium from the contaminated soil into the various waste and product streams; (2) the ability of the vitrified product to meet New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) environmental and engineering criteria for use as fill material (such as roadconstruction aggregate); (3) the system's ability to meet applicable compliance regulations for controlled air emissions of dioxins, furans, trace metals, particulate, and hydrogen chloride; (4) the uncontrolled air emissions of the oxides of nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, and carbon monoxide from the vitrification unit; and (5) the projected operating costs of the technology per ton of soil.

Demonstration results showed that the Cold Top system vitrified chromium-contaminated soil from thetwo New Jersey sites, yielding a product meeting the RCRA toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) standards. From soil excavated at one of the New Jersey sites, the system yielded a potentially recyclable metallic product, referred to as "ferrofurnace bottoms," that also met the RCRA TCLP chromium standard. Demonstration results also showed that the total chromium content of the vitrified products did not differ significantly from that of the untreated soils, but that the baghouse dust from soils from both sites were higher in chromium content than the untreated soils. The baghouse dust is composed of small-sized particulate produced when untreated soil is added to the Cold Top furnace and then drawn through the air pollution control system by its vacuum. Hexavalent chromium concentrations in the untreated soil were generally not detected (reduced at least two to three orders of magnitude) in the vitrified product and ferrofurnace bottoms. The hexavalent chromium concentration in the baghouse dust was approximately the same as that in the untreated soil. Comparison of metal concentrations in the vitrified product to NJDEP interim soil cleanup standards indicates that antimony, beryllium, cadmium, vanadium, and hexavalent chromium met these standards, while total chromium and nickel did not. Results of emissions modeling indicate that the concentrations of metals in stack emissions depend on the characteristics of the soil, the air pollution control system, and the detection limits of the various analytes. Emissions of dioxins, particulate, oxides of nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen chloride were all below the appropriate New York limits, based on appropriate measurement and calculation procedures.

Analysis of operating costs indicates that Cold Top treatment of chromium-contaminated soil, similar, to that treated during the SITE demonstration, is estimated to cost from $77 to $207 per ton, depending on disposal costs and potential credits for sale of the vitrified product.

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Posted April 2, 1999

 

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