Un>ted Slittes Ollceol July 1985 Envoronrnentat Poolechon PubiiCA II ~tos IA-1071 ....,., Wastwngtor DC 20460 Fact Sheet

Mobile Incinerator

INTRODUCTION EPA recently conducted four trial burns using its mobile incinerator at the Denney Fa r m site in southwest Missouri to determine the f easibility

of des troying dioxin a nd other o rganic hazardous wastes in soil . At the request of EPA's Region 7 administrator , the agency conducted trial ....) burns on dioxins in soils and on solids (and with other liquid and soli~ organic 11aterials). Th e Denney Farm is whel:'e barre ls of dioxin-contaminated

waste, pl:'oduced as an u~wanted by-product by the Noeth Eastern Phar11aceutical a nd Che11ical Co . _.(NEPACCO) , were taken foe disposal.

SIGNIFICANCE The test burn had a number o f puc-poses: It was designe d to impro ve the

RCRA pecmitting process for dioxi n i nci neratlo n; to est a blis h t hat pe rm i t conditi ons of 99.9999 per cent destruc tio n a nd removal efficiency

(ORE ) of dioxi ns and other hazardous wast e compone nts could be met; to

develop i ndividual risk assessments accordi ng to each site; to provide information for an economic analysis; and to demonstnte that dioxin

contaminated wastes and other contaminated soils could be safely processed. -2­

BACKGROUND

The Mobile Inci necato r System has been designed a nd constructed specifically

to pcovide safe, efficient, o n-s ite destruction of ocoanic hazardoult

matedals at Superfund a nd othec waste sites. It was built for EPA' s Engineering Research Labor:atot"y's Releases Control Branch in

Edison, N. J. The i ncinerator was designed by EPA and constructed by

o utside contract ocs. The system was tested i n itially in 1982 to 1983.

These tests documented the incineratoc's ability to destroy or re~aove 4 C8s, cacbon tetcachloride and othec liquid refractory organic COI'Ilpounds ._;o at least 99.9999 peccant ORE. After a solids feed system was installed ·

and tested in December 1984, the IT corpot"ation in Knoxville, Tenn.,

conducted additional tests.

PREPARATION PLANS ..

EPA installed the mobile inciner-ator at the Denney Farm site near McDowell, Mo ., where the agency conducted tests using clean soil a nd soil contaminated

with surrogates similar to those employed in the ear lier liquid wa ste tests. Tes t s using dioxin-contaminated liquid wastes a nd soils verified the ORE and the effectiveness of the emission control devices. EPA conducted a nalyses o n ash, treated soils, fi l ter materials, and pr ocess/quenc h

water to assess whether these wastes should be classified as hazardous wastes. -3­

ACTUAL TEST BURN RESULTS

The agency's Enviconmental Monitodno System Laboratory in La s Vegas compiled

cesults of the rece ntly completed four dioxin t est burns f~:om moce than

15,000 pages of analytical data and rev iews for quality assurance and

contcol befoce final peer ceview by the agency. The accompanying table

su~Warizes the results of the burns conducted dudng the pedod from

Feb. 26 ·to April 9, 1985. The dioxin trlal bucns were successful, with

OREs exceeding 99.9999 percent. Specifically the incinerator destroyed

3.84 pounds of 2,3,7,8-TCCO in the 1,750 gallons of liquids and over 40

tons of soil. The system met particulate emission permit limitations in three of the four test cuns. The fourth run exceeded the pcescribed .j lhait only slightly because submicron-sized particles accumulated in the ·

control system. The observed carbon monoxide (CO) emission

values (1.3 to 7.7 parts per million) are equivalent to those from the best techno'logies available today. EPA analyzed the treated

soil (ash) and pr~cess wastewater for a series of likely contaJDinants as

established by the Office of Solid Waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act . EPA has pr-oposed that the r-esidues fr-om subsequent

bur-ns be delisted. •oelisted• means that the r-esidues can be disposed

of as non-hazar-dous wastes. 0 }

Results of Dioxin Trial Burna in Missouri. Permit Teat Number Parameter Limit ~ 2-3 2-4 2-5

Rotary kiln (Primary burner) Temperature (degrees celsius) 760-1040 845 026 902 918 Secondary burner Temperature (degrees celsius) 1120-1315 1153 1199 1194 1199 Retention time (seconds) 2 0 5 3o 2 2 0 5 2 0 6 Oxygen (02) (percent by volume} >4 . 7.96 6.61 6 o44 6.42 Carbon monoxide (CO) (pptny) <100(6 min . } 7 07 1.3 2o3 2 o 5 Carbon dioxide (C02) (vol. \) 10 . 9 11.3 11.4 11.1 efficiency (C.E.) (\) 99 0993 99.999 99 0998 99 0998

Liquid waste feed Total flow {pounds per hour) 233 236 234 247 2,3,7,8-TCDD (grams per hour) <27. 2 26.3 38.3 28.0 25o 2

Solids feed Total flo:<' (pounds per hour) <2000 1158 1163 2069 1322 2 , 3, 7, 8-'tcoo (grams per hour) o.os o. 24 0. 95 o. 46 Stack Emission ratet 2, 3, 7, 8-TCDD (milligrams per day) ND(0.169) NO(Oo127) NO(Oo031) ND(Oo064) Particulates (miligrams/atandard cubic meter, <180 134. ~ 147.3 145.6 201.5 corrected to 7 percent oxygen) Destruction and removal efficiency >99.9999 >99 .99997 >99. 99998 >99.99999 >99.99998 (ORE)(\)

less than greater than NO• non-detected; detection limits inside parentheses

Teat 2 liquid feedt dioxin-contaminated TCP still bottoms solids feech TCP still bottoma...... , + contaminated soil.

OMOOall 3AIJ.Y11J.SINIKOY ~U1Wn30p Ill~ jO IY8 3KIQOOH '! OHIYB oq~ o~ onp II II 'IOI~U 'I'll U11q~ .IWIIO 1111 II ..:::~.:.~.=.:!.:2~ ---­ .------.------r--~~~--~-

Uni11d SIIIH Offoce oJ EnYirOtlmenlal PrOIKiion Public Affain IA · 1071 .,..,., Washing1on DC 10460 Environmental News &.ulit-~~-, J.. oEPA ' _j!J.'Udf.{ '"' I ot~,~ ...:--'10..:. I ~

FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, JULY 11, 1985

Elly Seng (202) 382-4JU

EPA MOBILE The u.s. Enviconmental Pcotection Agency's mobile INCINERATOR SUCCESSFULLY incinerator system success fully destroyed dioxin- DESTROYS DIOXIN contaminated wastes during a tcial burn in southwest Mi ssouri, the agency a nnounced today. The final results of the tcial bucn show that the system successfully destroyed oc removed 99.9999 percent of wastes contaminated with 2, 3 , 7, 8-TCDO.

The wastes, both llquid and solid, contained diOxin at levels up to 357 parts per million (ppm) of 2,3 ,7,8-TCDO, the most toxic focm of dioxin, in four tcial bucns at the Denney E-'acm site neac Vecona, Ho., between F~b. 25 and Apdl 8 , 1985. · •These test nsults cepCesent a majoc breakthcough in o uc effocts to deal with a sedous enviconmental ,. concecn, • said Becnacd o. Goldstein, EPA's Assistant • Administrator for Research and Development. •The success of these test bur-ns is the culmination of a concerted effort bY this agency to find solutions to the dioxin problem. • - During the trial burns, the system processed 1, 750 gallons of dioxin-contaminated 1 iquids and more than 40 tons of dioxin-contaminated soils simultaneously. From these wastes , the incineratoc destcoyed 3.84 pounds of 2,3,7 ,8- TCOD. The test burns also showed that the inci nerator could rneet the Resource Consecvation and Recovery Act (RCRA) pecfocmance standards for particulate matter and hydrochlocic acid emissions . EPA ' s meas urements s howed that there were no detectable tr ac~s o f 2 ,3,1,8-TCDO in the s ys tem' s flue

R-125 (more ) -:.!­

gl!ls, kiln ash or scrubber water e ffluent s treams aftec- the contaminated wa ste was incinerated. Measur ed as minimum destruction and r emoval efficienc i es (ORE), the i nci nerator burned from 99.999973 to 99.999995 percent of the dioxin in the waste. Because the inci nerator burne d the 2,3,7,8-TCOD so completely, EPA proposed to delist (designate as not hazardous) the residues from future burns in the mobile i ncinerator. In a s eparate test of the incinerator' s ability to destroy dioxin in llquid wastes, the system burned three cubic yards of lagoon sediments that also contained 10\t concentrations of brominated naphthalenes to determine if any halogens were released from the stack. EPA found no bromide or chlorine in the stack gas and no 2,3,7,8-TCDD in the stack emissions, ash or cooling water . EPA's listing of certain wastes as acutely hazardous wastes, which becomes effective July lS, requires that dioxin incinerators or units remove .or destroy 99.9999 percent of the dioxin. EPA will make all scientific data, reports, a nd permit materials available to the private sector and the national and international scientific communities. u R-125