PCBs have steadily entered our
environment by way of soil
and water contamination.
Today’s new technology and
lessons learned have given way to a
‘modular’ approach to waste management
and to the elimination of PCBs.
Scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs,
who have developed niches to
improve their products and services,
are providing the market place with
choices to make better and more cost–
effective decisions when designing
response supplies and equipment. As a
result, by selecting equipment and supplies
as modules, companies may
develop and install diversified processes
and procedures to meet their needs.
Spill Management’s (SMI) Recovery
Unit is a custom-built BreMar Trailer
that is made of non-sparking-heavyduty
aluminium. It will accommodate
response equipment and portable open
top tanks that facilitate the pre-treatment
of wastewater by removing
gross-contamination. This is accomplished
by the use of vacuum, flocculation
of suspended solids through physical
treatment and the filtration of contaminated
water through the filtration
system.
The In-Viro-Drum™ vacuum
(www.invirodrum.com) and Mycelx®-
HRM Cartridge filtration units are
mounted on a TanTum electric truck to
provide water treatment, training and
emergency response capabilities. Both
systems can be detached from the etruck
and air lifted to previously
unreachable or remote sites and they
can also be operated from a response
boat or barge while on the water.
The HRM Cartridges have an
extremely strong bonding attraction
for select hydrocarbon compounds and
will remove PCBs to below detectable
limits (BDL). These cartridges are
polypropylene filter cartridges infused
with a polymer compound that actively
bonds to hydrocarbons. The polymer
compound is formed as a synthesis
product of natural drying, semi-drying,
and non-drying oils with a synthetic
polymer [Composition Patents:
5,437,793 and 5,746,925 / Chemical
Abstract Service (CAS) #173967-80-1
and #173967-81-2]. The Hydrocarbon
Removal Matrix Cartridge (HRM
Cartridge) System removes PCBs and
dilute oil using equipment built by
EMRP Inc. Brantford, Ontario, and
Mycelx technology (www.emrp.ca). A
newly, developed sorbent material has
been impregnated with the same
Mycelx polymer to bond organic
hydrocarbons to its chemistry or sorbent.
Emergency Response
SMI’s portable, diesel powered, In-
Viro-Drum vacuum recovery-system is
engineered to provide increased pumping
capability as well as pumping that
allows operators to randomly separate
and accumulate PCB waste into designated
waste streams for transportation,
treatment storage or transferring from
the field. The unit can operate and/or
support recovery and process equipment.
Traditional pumping systems
cannot deliver this kind of pumping
versatility. This vacuum recovery-system
reduces handling, clean-up and
recovery costs for PCB and non-PCB
contaminated oil, water, sludge and
soil. The vacuum unit can also be idled
down to lift oil from water or be used
at higher RPM to move debris by using
a combination of vacuum and airflow.
Another plus for this vacuum unit
or power pack is that it could be situated
200 ft from the receiving vessels
while the receiving vessels are placed
in close proximity to the work area.
This would mean that only 20 to 30
feet of working hose is required to
move the debris and only 20 to 30 feet
of hose would have to be broken down
if a blockage occurred. This feature
keeps the potentially long (air) suction
hose, that is connected from the receiving
vessel to the power pack, from
being plugged or frozen.
If, when vacuuming debris at –24
C, the hose carrying the debris to the
receiving vessel forms a coating of ice
and/or snow on the inside, the warm
air that is generated on the ‘vent-side’
of the machine can be used to melt the
ice and thus allows the use of the same
hose to complete the job.
When working with PCBs, the In-
Viro-Drum can be used to segregate
and collect contaminated water, oil or
solid waste into separate waste containers
by changing the suction hose to
the appropriate receiving vessel or
container and by connecting the hose
with the vacuuming-head/stinger to the desired receiving vessel. The engineered
lids that are fitted to the receiving
vessels, feature an automatic-shutoff-
system that provides a receiving
vessel with a predetermined amount of
freeboard and thus helps to prevent an
unwanted spill of PCBs. Equipment
used to clean up PCBs is designated to
that product until it is decontaminated.
To protect the vacuum equipment from
being contaminated, filters and polishing
systems can be added to filter out
PCB contamination.
Because the power pack works as
an independent piece of equipment
within the system of moving debris, so
the unit readily supports scrubbers, filters
and remediation-filtration-systems
such as a Mycelx-HRM Cartridge filtration
system. It works with predetermined
rates of vacuum and high airflow
to move debris through the 3-inch
hoses and into vacuum rated/engineered
receiving vessels, storage tanks
and 45-gallon drums.
Today’s vacuum-trucks are equipped
with a wide range of pumps or blower
systems to generate the suction
required to move product, but operators
using these trucks on PCB and
other spills have to know the performance-
limitation of their equipment
when moving debris through 3-inch
hoses. In the past these vacuum trucks
have been used on spill sites and they
become expensive pieces of equipment
until decontaminated. Vacuum trucks
working with high vacuum are normally
moving debris across distances of up
to 200 ft.
Should an operator experience a
plugged hose while moving PCB contaminated
material, the environment
must be protected against a second
spill as the hose sections are separated
to search for the blockage. Similarly, if
200 ft of hose became plugged with
the build up of frost during cold winter
conditions, the 200 ft of hose will have
to be thawed or replaced.
Cliff Holland is with Spill
Management Inc.
Contact e-mail: spillman@on.aibn.com
See our home page on how to order your subscription. We regret we can
only accept orders from Canada.
