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SOURCE ASSESSMENT: RAIL TANK CAR, TANK TRUCK, AND DRUM CLEANING, STATE-OF-THE-ART
Citation:
Earley, D., K. Tackett, AND T. Blackwood. SOURCE ASSESSMENT: RAIL TANK CAR, TANK TRUCK, AND DRUM CLEANING, STATE-OF-THE-ART. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/2-78/004G.
Description:
This document reviews the state of the art of air emissions and water pollutants from cleaning rail tank cars, tank trucks, and drums. Composition, quantity, and rate of emissions and pollutants are described. Rail tank cars, tank trucks, and drums are used to transport chemical and petroleum commodities from producer to consumer. Steaming, washing and/or flushing of such units result in air emissions and wastewater effluents. Air emissions are predominantly organic chemical vapors. Water pollutants common to these operations are primarily oil and grease, COD, BOD, suspended solids and many other organic and inorganic materials. Representative sources were defined in order to evaluate the hazard potential. Source severity was defined and evaluated for air emissions and for wastewater effluents. Control methods used to reduce emissions from rail tank car and tank truck cleaning consist only of flaring flushed gases. By EPA estimates, two-thirds of the tank truck industry discharges into municipal systems with little or no pretreatment. This treatment has generally been limited to sedimentation, neutralization, evaporation ponds, and lagoons.