Hazardous waste metals

Hazardous Waste Reduction Checklist and Assessment Manualfor the Metal FinishingJndusty, California Department of Health Services, Alternative Technology Division, Toxic Substances Control Program, Sacramento, Calif., 1990. 

Electrokinetics. Electrokinetics is a tested technology that has been used for over half a century to dewater and stabilize soils, and has recently been investigated for in situ use at hazardous waste sites (23). Primarily used for metals removal, the technology utilizes an electrical field to generate a flow and concentration gradient in porous and semiporous soils. 

The only components in a coating powder which might cause the waste to be classified as hazardous are certain heavy-metal pigments sometimes used as colorants. Lead- (qv) and cadmium-based pigments (qv) are seldom used, however, and other potentially hazardous elements such as barium, nickel, and chromium are usually in the form of highly insoluble materials that seldom cause of the spent powder to be characterized as a hazardous waste (86). 

Toxic or hazardous wastes can be disposed of in fluidized beds by either chemical capture or complete destruction. In the former case, bed material, such as limestone, will reacl with hahdes, sulfides, metals, etc., to form stable compounds which can be landfilled. Contact times of up to 5 or 10 s at 1200 K (900°C) to 1300 K (1000°C) assure complete destruction of most compounds. 

Multiple Metals Testing The samphng method commonly used to measure emissions of metals from stationaiy sources is contained in 40 CFR 266, Appendix IX. The procedure is titled Methodology for the Determination of Metals Emissions in Exhaust Gases from Hazardous Waste Incineration and Similar Combustion Processes. It is also currently pubhshed as Draft EPA Method 29 for inclusion in 40 CFR 60. 

NOTE - Petrochemical plants also generate significant amounts of solid wastes and sludges, some of which may be considered hazardous because of the presence of toxic organics and heavy metals. Spent caustic and other hazardous wastes may be generated in significant quantities examples are distillation residues associated with units handling acetaldehyde, acetonitrile, benzyl chloride, carbon tetrachloride, cumene, phthallic anhydride, nitrobenzene, methyl ethyl pyridine, toluene diisocyanate, trichloroethane, trichloroethylene, perchloro-ethylene, aniline, chlorobenzenes, dimethyl hydrazine, ethylene dibromide, toluenediamine, epichlorohydrin, ethyl chloride, ethylene dichloride, and vinyl chloride. 

At the Taylor Road landfill (originally intended for the disposal of municipal refuse only), unknown quantities of hazardous wastes from industrial and residential sources were deposited. During the period when the landfill was active, soil and groundwater samples collected at the site were found to contain concentrations of volatile organic compounds and metals above acceptable safe drinking water standards. Analysis of samples collected from private drinking water wells indicated that contamination... 

Applicability Most hazardous waste slurried in water can be mixed directly with cement, and the suspended solids will be incorporated into the rigid matrices of the hardened concrete. This process is especially effective for waste with high levels of toxic metals since at the pH of the cement mixture, most multivalent cations are converted into insoluble hydroxides or carbonates. Metal ions also may be incorporated into the crystalline structure of the cement minerals that form. Materials in the waste (such as sulfides, asbestos, latex and solid plastic wastes) may actually increase the strength and stability of the waste concrete. It is also effective for high-volume, low-toxic, radioactive wastes. 

Likewise, fly ash from power plant combustors often contains small amounts of metals or their oxides, which require costly disposal in the ever-shrinking number of approved hazardous waste landfills. Thus, there are economic incentives to recover the metal values as well as to reduce the costs of ultimate disposal. Here, too, the metal content is low, and research is needed to develop economical separation processes. In principle, advances in this area could be translated into recovery of metal values from mine tailings. 

Pickling done before coating may use a mildly acidic bath such spent liquor is not considered hazardous. Waste pickle liquor flows typically range between 10 and 20 gal/t of pickled product. Rinsewater flows may range from less than 70 gal/t for bar products to more than 1000 gal/t for certain flat-rolled products. The principal pollutants in rinsewater include TSS, dissolved iron, and metals. For carbon steel operations, the principal metals are lead and zinc for specialty and stainless steels the metals include chromium and nickel.15... 

U.S. EPA, Report to Congress on Metal Recovery, Environmental Regulation Hazardous Waste, EPA530-R-93-018, U.S. EPA, Washington, DC, 1994. 

All metal finishing facilities have one thing in common—the generation of metal-containing hazardous waste from the production processes. Reducing the volume of waste generated can save money and at the same time decreases future liabilities. Typical wastes generated are as follows ... 

Source U.S. EPA, Meeting Hazardous Waste Requirements for Metal Finishers, Report EPA/625/4-87/018, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH, 1987. 

PRC Environmental Management, Hazardous Waste Reduction in the Metal Finishing Industry, Noyes Data Corporation, Park Ridge, NJ, 1989. 

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