Transitions - Sustainable Design: The Science of Sustainability and Green Engineering - page 118

Table 3.4 Critical Factors in the Choice of Decontamination and Treatment Approaches

Imptementabilily Regulatory Community Land Residuals Wastewater Air Emissions

Treatment Technology at Full Scale Compliance Acceptance Requirements Disposal Treatment Control

Conventional incineration X X X

Innovative incineration X X X

Pyrolysis X X

Vitrification X X X

Supercritical water oxidation X

Wet air oxidation
Thermal desorption

X X X

Immobilization X X

Solvent extraction X X

Soil washing X X

Dechlonnation X

Oxidation X

Bioslurry process X X

Composting X X

Contained treatmont facility X X X

Source : U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Remediation Guidance Document, EPA-905-B94-003, Chapter 7, U.S. EPA, Washington, DC, 2003.

The job is not finished until these and other life cycle considerations are factored
into the design.
Indeed, a good design must account for the entire life cycle of a potential
hazard. For example, we must concern ourselves not only about the processes
over which we have complete control, such as the manufacturing design process
for a product or the treatment of a waste within the company's property lines
but must also think about what happens when a chemical or other stressor enters
the environment. 9 We must be able to show how a potential contaminant moves
after entering the environment, which is complicated and difficult because there
is much variability of chemical and physical characteristics of contaminated media
(especially soils and sediments), owing to the strong affinity of most contaminants
for fine-grained sediment particles and due to the limited track record or “scale-
up” studies for many treatment technologies. Off-the-shelf models can be used
for simple process operations, such as extraction or thermal vaporization applied
to single contaminants in relatively pure systems. However, such models have not
been evaluated appropriately for a number of other technologies because of the
limited database on treatment technologies, such as for contaminated sediments
or soils.
Standard engineering practice 10 for evaluating the effectiveness of treatment
technologies for any type of contaminated media (solids, liquids, or gases) requires
first performing a treatability study for a sample that is representative of the
contaminated material. The performance data from treatability studies can aid in