13    THE FIRST "SITE" FIELD EVALUATION
Ray Funderburk, President
Hazcon, Inc.
Brookshire, Texas 77423
INTRODUCTION
The first candidate technology has been tested under the EPA's new Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) program. It was a solidification/stabilization process developed specifically
for hazardous waste streams with high organic content. The preliminary results are in and the data is
worthy of note.
Before SITE, a firm was frustrated in attempts to demonstrate a new or innovative technology for
treating hazardous waste. It could not be demonstrated with a large volume of waste because it was
illegal. Access to Superfund sites was out of the question. Finally, permits were a hurdle few smaller
firms could afford. With this in mind, the EPA responded to the need by creating a formal evaluation
program under the provisions of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986,
commonly known as SARA. It provided for the promulgation of a Superfund Innovative Technology
Evaluation program to accelerate the development, demonstration, and use of new or innovative
technologies as potential alternatives for Superfund cleanup.
The objective of each evaluation conducted under the SITE program is to develop reliable cost and
performance data on innovative technologies. If found technically sound and cost effective in comparison to traditional alternatives, these new technologies could be considered for utilization at
Superfund sites.
The HAZCON process for solidification/stabilization of hazardous wastes was the first candidate
tested under the new program. Selection and testing was due to HAZCON's claim to be able to
solidify and stabilize highly organic hazardous waste streams that other processes could not treat
effectively.
PLANNING
Nominations were received from each EPA regional headquarters for a HAZCON test site with
heavy organic contamination. The Douglassville, PA site, No. 102 on the National Priority List, was
selected in Region III. The site is located along the Schuylkill River in Berks County, Pennsylvania,
about 11 miles southeast of Reading. The 50-acre site is a former oil recovery facility that has two
large lagoons once filled with oily sludge, an oily filter cake disposal area, an oil drum cleaning and
storage area and an area where generated sludge was landfarmed. Even the soil within the plant
processing area is black and oily after years of soaking up oils and greases.
According to the EPA assessment, more than 250,000 cubic yards of soil at the facility is contaminated with up to 25% by weight of oils and greases. Other contaminates include PCBs, toluene,
benzene, xylene, phenols, ethylbenzene, tetrachloroethylene and heavy metals.
HAZCON and EPA representatives conducted a site visit and selected six extraction points. Selection was based upon the existence of the highest concentration levels of metals and other contaminants. It was agreed that five cubic yards would be excavated from each of the six locations within the
facility. At the urging of HAZCON, EPA agreed to let the firm pour the treated material into cubic-
yard-sized blocks to be returned to the point of extraction and buried. To demonstrate its ability to
execute treatment on a constant basis, HAZCON agreed to fill two, ten-cubic-yard sized holes using
continuous processing equipment.
Finally, although offered the opportunity to pretest samples from each location, HAZCON
declined in favor of receiving the waste without knowing its oil or grease content. This was done to
demonstrate the ability to adjust HAZCON's additives to meet variations in organic content, moisture
levels or basic waste chemistry.
43rd Purdue Industrial Waste Conference Proceedings, © 1989 Lewis Publishers, Inc., Chelsea, Michigan 48118.
Primed in U.S.A.
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