HAZARDOUS WASTES

Introduction to Environmental Engineering

HAZARDOUS WASTES:
- are wastes that requires special precautions in its storage, collection,
transportation, treatment or disposal to prevent damage to persons or property, and
includes explosive, flammable, volatile, radioactive, toxic and pathological wastes
(EPA, 1975)
- Hazardous Wastes are solid wastes or a combination of solid wastes w/c
because of the quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious
characteristics may cause or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an
increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness
- Pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the
environment when improperly treated, stored, transported or disposed of or
otherwise managed
CHARACTERISTICS OF HAZARDOUS WASTES:
Toxicity -- poisonous (acute) and have carcinogenic, tetratogenic, or
mutagenic effect on human and other organisms. Toxic wastes are harmful or
fatal when ingested or absorbed (e.g., containing mercury, lead, etc.). When
toxic wastes are land disposed, contaminated liquid may leach from the waste
and pollute ground water.
Ignitibility -- Ignitable wastes can create fires under certain conditions, are
spontaneously combustible, or have a flash point less than 60 C (140 F).
Examples include waste oils and used solvents.
Corrosivity Corrosive wastes are acids or bases (pH less than or equal to 2,
or greater than or equal to 12.5) that are capable of corroding metal
containers, such as storage tanks, drums, and barrels. They can cause severe
damage to exposed tissues. Battery acid is an example.
Reactivity -- Reactive wastes are unstable under "normal" conditions. They
can cause explosions, toxic fumes, gases, or vapors when heated,
compressed, or mixed with water. Examples include lithium-sulfur batteries
and explosives.
LIST OF HAZARDOUS WASTES:
Spent halogenated solvents used for degreasing such as trichloroethylene,
methylene chloride
Spent non-halogenated solvents such as xylene, acetone, ethyl benzene, ethyl
ether
Wastewater treatment sludges from electroplating operations
Dewatered air pollution control scrubber sludges from coke ovens and blast
furnaces
Sludge generated during the production of various chromium compounds
API separator sludges from petroleum refineries
EXCEPTED WASTES:
Domestic sewage & irrigation return flows
Mine tailings
Animal manures
Mining overburden
Fly ash & bottom ash
Drilling fluids
Wastes from crude oil
Natural gas
Geothermal energy development
Nuclear & radioactive wastes (controlled separately under another act)

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HAZARDOUS WASTES
Introduction to Environmental Engineering

HAZARDOUS WASTES CONSIDERED:

1. Radioactive materials
2. Medical wastes
3. Non-radioactive liquid industrial wastes
NUCLEAR WASTES:
- from uranium fuel
Disposal of Wastes/Completion of the Fuel Cycle
1. Separating the valuable residual Plutonium from uranium & from fission
products in a chemical reprocessing plants
2. Disposing the fuel into an underground repository
*the fission products must be immobilized by incorporation in a glass or ceramic
matrix before disposal in a similar repository
Health and Environmental Effects:
From low level wastes
generated from uranium mining & uranium operations w/c
release small amounts of Thorium-230, Radium-226, Radon-222
& lead-210, as well as non-radioactive ionic species to the
environment
damage occurs over a long period of time
example: Ra-226 ingestion results in blood & bone disorders
Ra- 222 cause cancer to Uranium miners
From High level wastes
wastes are produced in relatively small volume in the reactor
fuel core wherein in a short time the the fresh fuel becomes
intensely radioactive
lethal when cooling of the fuel in the reactor should be
interrupted
integrity of the fuel cladding can be destroyed
lethal amounts of the fission products released inside the
containment structure of the reactor building
Tailings of Uranium
pose several problems since they contain mineral, chemical &
radioactive contaminants
returning the tailings to the mine where it was extracted would
interfere w/ the mining of further ore (volume of tailings is
usually 30-40% > that of the parent rock due to the
comminution process
most uranium mining companies plan their operations so as to
dispose of tailings in carefully engineered surface facilities
toxic metal contaminants such as As, Cd, Hg, Mo, Va & Zn are
found along w/ Fe
inorganic contaminants are also present including ammonium,
chloride, and sulfate ions in such concentrations as to present a
threat to the nearby environment
Radioactive contamination from U-238 & its daughters

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HAZARDOUS WASTES
Introduction to Environmental Engineering

Of environmental concerns are isotopes such as thorium-230,

radium-226 and radon-222 with their radioactive daughters
Radium-226 is a low-level radioactive hazard for several
hundred thousand yr since it has a shorter half-life (1600 yrs)
Radium-226 tailings are deposited mainly on the surface of
smaller particles thus are subject to slow dissolution & transport
by waters percolating through the deposits
since Ra is chemically similar to Ca it may be transferred in
humans into the bone structure
Long term exposure to amounts as small as 1 mg in the body
can lead to serious bone damage
Radium-226 & Radon-222 are quickly diluted by the surrounding
air mass so that distances beyond about 1 km from the tailings
deposits have radiation levels that are not normally neglected
e.g. hazard to building occupants
10,000 lung cancer fatalities/yr in U.S. (Cohen,1980)

From Power Reactors

99% of the nuclear wastes from power reactors are in the form
of fission products w/c are sealed w/in the spent-fuel bundles
these bundles are extremely radioactive due to the decay of
fission products & transuranic isotopes & their daughters
some of the decay energy is transmitted to the uranium matrix
thus fuel must be cooled to prevent a rise in the cladding
temperature to a point where it could react chemically in the
atmosphere & lose its integrity
Mine & Mill Tailings
storage & disposal of tailings are site-specific problems
solutions will be dependent on local climate, topography, and
geology and on the nature of mining operation (e.g. whether it
is underground or open pit)
proximity of populated areas will also have an impact on the
engineering design
in arid regions : disposal of tailings in a depression below
ground level followed by covering the deposit w/ a protective
thickness of soil, sand, gravel or crushed rock
areas where precipitation is higher: focused on designs that
minimize dissolution of Ra-226, toxic metal ions & other
contaminants such as sulfates & chlorides
environmentally safe storage must be provided for the long
term
continue intensive research & development efforts
BIOMEDICAL WASTES
Types

of Wastes:
Cultures & stocks of infectious agents
Human pathological wastes
Human blood & blood products

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HAZARDOUS WASTES
Introduction to Environmental Engineering

Sharp implements (used & unused)

Contaminated animal wastes
Isolation waste from patients w/ highly communicable diseases

Control of Biomedical Wastes

On-site incineration where ash disposal is to a sanitary landfill
Sterilization
W/lacking incineration & sterilization, wastes are segregated &
packaged in special colored-coded & labeled containers for
transportation & treatment elsewhere prior to landfilling

CHEMICAL WASTES
TV sets, heat pacers, earth satellites, aerosol cans, pesticides,
spectrum of plastic materials
degreasing compounds, wood preservatives, pesticides, heavy metals
& other liquid contaminants
Cannot be handled by the conventional processes of treatment
Must be recycled & reclaimed
Effects:
Groundwater contamination
Hazardous to marine flora & fauna
Serious impacts to the ecosystem
Organic Wastes:
Bioaccumulative, POPs & fat soluble
PCBs and some pesticides have carcinogenic & mutagenic effects
Source: incineration of fossil fuels, organic materials, and MSWs
Inorganic Pollutants
Hg, Pb, Cd, As even in ppb are biological poisons
Accumulate in organic matter in soil & sediments & taken up by
growing plants
Can build up in human organs & tissues to toxic levels
Low pH can increase the transportability of these contaminants making
them more soluble
COMPONENTS OF HAZARDOUS WASTES MANAGEMENT PLAN
1. Preparing an inventory
2. Waste minimization
3. Storage & transport
4. Spillage
5. Treatment & disposal
HAZARDOUS WASTES MINIMIZATION:
1. Change materials purchasing & control methods
2. Improve housekeeping practices
3. Change production methods

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HAZARDOUS WASTES
Introduction to Environmental Engineering

4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Substitute less toxic materials

Reduce wastewater flows
Segregate wastes
Recycle or reclaim wastes
Treat waste to reduce volume &/or toxicity
Delist wastes that do not have hazardous characteristics

Treatment and Disposal of Chemical Wastes:

1. Physical Processes
centrifugation, sedimentation, flotation & filtration
use of activated carbon to get rid of toxic organics
Reverse osmosis, dialysis or electrodialysis
Stripping & distillation

2. Chemical Processes
oxidation (of cyanide to cyanates, by alkaline chlorination)
reduction (of Cr+6 to Cr+3, by SO2)
precipitation (of Cd, Hg, etc. by sulfides)
pH adjustments (of lime slurry, by spent pickle liquor)
ion exchange (removing dissolved metallic & non-metallic
inorganics)
stabilization/solidification (of inorganic sludges & contaminated
soils by binding agents)
3. Biological Processes

aerobic biological processes (rapid microbial growth)

e.g. land farming of oily wastes (economical & effective
treatment method provided that the waste is not applied too
frequently & is spread in thin enough layers
e.g. bacterial leaching for the extraction of heavy metals from
wastewater sludges

4. Incineration
thermal oxidation of of organic matter into CO2, H2O & inert
ash
partially combusted organics, inorganic particulate matter, acid
gases (such as HCl) & sulfur oxides may be produced depending
on the feed
Rotary kiln incinerators are most commonly used
cement kilns, boilers & industrial furnaces have proven effective
for the destruction of hazardous organic wastes

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HAZARDOUS WASTES
Introduction to Environmental Engineering

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