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INNOVATIVE PRACTICES FOR TREATING WASTE STREAMS CONTAINING HEAVY METALS: A WASTE MINIMIZATION APPROACH
Citation:
Grosse*, D W. INNOVATIVE PRACTICES FOR TREATING WASTE STREAMS CONTAINING HEAVY METALS: A WASTE MINIMIZATION APPROACH. Chapter 2.2, Technomic Publishing Company Incorporated, Thousand Oaks, CA, 2:221-235, (1990).
Impact/Purpose:
to inform the public
Description:
Innovative practices for treating waste streams containing heavy metals often involve technologies or systems that either reduce the amount of waste generated or recover reusable resources. With the land disposal of metal treatment residuals becoming less of an accepted waste management alternative, waste minimization practices have received increasing popularity in the primary metals industry. When considering the percentage contribution of various industrial sectors to the total amount of hazardous waste generated, primary metals and fabricated metal products rank number 2 and 4 respectively for a combined percentage of 27.6 percent of the total. Although the recycling of recoverable resources from metal and cyanide-bearing wastes accounts for as much as 48 percent of the total waste categories identified, much more can be done to reduce generated waste even further. Many wastes generated by the primary metals industry result from the electroplating and metal treatment/fabrication industries which are profoundly affected by the land disposal restrictions program. Preferred management practices for reducing or eliminating generated wastes are source reduction (i.e., material substitution, recycle/reuse) and reduction of toxicity in order to meet “technology-based treatment standards.” Either a specified allowable concentration level for constituents in waste residuals will be prescribed or specific treatment technologies may be mandated. In either case, the goal is to eliminate environmental pollution. Major topics to be discussed in this section will focus on waste stream characterizations, process descriptions, and summarized results of demonstration projects and audits. Only state-of-the-art and innovative approaches will be considered for review. Particular emphasis will be placed on waste minimization approaches including source reduction, recovery techniques, and centralized treatment.
