Demonstration of base catalyzed decomposition process, Navy Public Works Center, Guam, Mariana Islands

Application of the base catalyzed decomposition process to treatment of PCB-contaminated insulation and other materials associated with US Navy vessels. Final report

“…This section reviews the BCD process chemistry and the application of the process for treatment of PCB-contaminated soils and residuals at the PWC in Guam and the scaleup for demonstration and deployment on Guam (Schmidt et al 1996); then summarizes appIications for treating PCBcontaminated materials associated with Navy vessel recycling activities.…”

“…Baseline BCD runs were conducted with wool felt at the temperatures and reagent loadings determined to be effective on other waste matrices in previous BCD Stage 2 work (Schmidt et al 1996) and on wool felt during the shakedown testing. The following starting baseline conditions were used: LW-110 oil as the reaction medium; a mass ratio for NaOH to PCB of 6.25:l (raised from 2.5:l per preliminary results from shakedown testing); a mass ratio of hydrogen donor oil, LW-104, to PCB of 4.25:l; and a catalyst concentration in the final matrix of approximately 0.75% by weight.…”

“…A recent evaluation was performed that examined the economics of BCD Stage 1 and Stage 2 combined to treat PCB-contaminated soils (Schmidt et al 1996). This evaluation gave a totaI treatment cost of $400/metric ton ($0.40/kg) for a system processing 7000 metric tons per year.…”

“…This report discusses the application of the Base Catalyzed Decomposition (BCD) technology on PCB-containing materials from PSNSY. This process was successfully demonstrated for PCB cleanup at the Navy's Public Works Center (PWC) on Guam (Schmidt et al 1996). The development and scaleup of the BCD process was a joint effort conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Navy, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL),") and Battelle-Columbus Laboratory (BCL).…”

“…The development and scaleup of the BCD process was a joint effort conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Navy, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL),") and Battelle-Columbus Laboratory (BCL). A 1 to 2 ton per hour continuous system was designed and built by engineers at PNNL and BCL from a laboratory process developed by EPA's Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory (RREL) (Schmidt et al 1996). The full-scale system was designed and deployed at the PWC on Guam by PNNL and transferred to the Navy's remedial action contractor in November 1994.…”