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DEMONSTRATION BULLETIN: MOBILE VOLUME REDUCTION UNIT - U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
Citation:
Richardson*, T L. DEMONSTRATION BULLETIN: MOBILE VOLUME REDUCTION UNIT - U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY. EPA/540/MR-93/508, 1993.
Impact/Purpose:
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Description:
The Volume Reduction Unit (VRU), which was developed by EPA, is a mobile, pilot-scale soil washing system for stand-alone field use in cleaning soil contaminated with hazardous substances. Removal efficiencies depend on the contaminant as well as the type of soil. Soil washing is a water-based ex situ process for mechanically scrubbing soils to remove undesirable contaminants. The process removes contaminants from soils by either dissolving or suspending them in the wash solution (which is later treated by conventional wastewater treatment methods) or concentrating them into a smaller volume of soil through simple particle size separation techniques. The concept of reducing soil contamination through the use of particle size separation is based on the finding that most organic and inorganic contaminants tend to bind to fine-sized clay and silt particles primarily by physical processes. Washing processes that separate the particles from the coarser soil particles effectively concentrate the contaminants into a smaller volume. The clean larger fraction can be returned to the site for continued use.