Grantee Research Project Results
2004 Progress Report: Rocky Mountain Regional Hazardous Substance Research Center Training and Technology Transfer Program
EPA Grant Number: R829515C005Subproject: this is subproject number 005 , established and managed by the Center Director under grant R829515
(EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
Center: Center for Comprehensive, optimaL, and Effective Abatement of Nutrients
Center Director: Arabi, Mazdak
Title: Rocky Mountain Regional Hazardous Substance Research Center Training and Technology Transfer Program
Investigators: Wildeman, Thomas
Institution: Colorado School of Mines , Colorado State University
Current Institution: Colorado State University
EPA Project Officer: Aja, Hayley
Project Period: November 1, 2001 through October 31, 2003
Project Period Covered by this Report: November 1, 2003 through October 31, 2004
Project Amount: Refer to main center abstract for funding details.
RFA: Hazardous Substance Research Centers - HSRC (2001) Recipients Lists
Research Category: Hazardous Waste/Remediation , Land and Waste Management
Objective:
The goal of technology transfer at the Rocky Mountain Regional Hazardous Substance Research Center (HSRC) is to take the research results generated within the Center, package them with related technologies created in other settings, and develop these technologies for our customers through the demonstration phase and then to full-scale operations.
The specific objectives that have been set to reach this goal are to:
- seek out appropriate personnel in the agencies that are our primary customers to determine their needs concerning environmental projects at mine sites, make certain that those needs appear in the Request for Proposals distributed by the Center, and give the customer a written assessment of how to meet these treatment needs;
- interview the principal investigators for each Center research project, determine from them what would be a reasonable demonstration situation that would use the technology that they are developing, and write a short description of the project and the demonstration situation to have available when contacting customers;
- identify other public and private agencies with which we can combine results, generate packages that showcase the technologies, make our customers aware of these technology packages, and generate proposals that use technologies that are within the package;
- and if other agencies contact Technology Transfer about demonstration situations, advise them using either our research results or technologies that have been developed by other organizations and assist them in generating proposals for those situations.
To further focus efforts, our primary customers are the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 8, the EPA Mine Waste Technology Program, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the Office of Surface Mining (OSM). Additional customers include the U.S. National Park Service and State Abandoned Mine Lands Programs in the western United States. All other agencies will fall into Objective 4, where they will be assisted when they contact us. Note that these objectives and the following measures of achievement are similar to how Technical Outreach Services for Communities (TOSC) and Technical Assistance to Brownfields (TAB) operate and measure success.
The approach for meeting these objectives requires informing individuals within agencies, committees, and societies of the activities of the Center. If the person falls in the customer category, we find out what they consider to be the primary technical needs for remediating abandoned mine land (AML) sites. If the person represents an organization with which we should cooperate, we determine how that cooperation could be achieved. If the person represents an organization that is developing related technologies, we determine how to package our technical expertise with their expertise so that it stands a better chance of being taken to the demonstration stage. This approach clearly involves making considerable contacts, preferably as personal visits. Fortunately, many of the individuals to be contacted are in the Denver area (i.e., close proximity to the Center). The budget for technology transfer, however, does contain a considerable travel allotment for trips to customers not in the Denver area. The activities of this past year will be put into the context of these objectives.
With respect to the final objective of achieving demonstration projects, the assumption is that if enough good proposals are created, then the demonstration projects will be achieved. Regarding how a proposal is counted as being assisted by Technology Transfer, the "but-for" criterion used by TOSC and TAB will be used. That is, "but for the involvement of Technology Transfer, this proposal would not have been written or would not have the links of technology with proposed solutions that are used".
Progress Summary:
Most proposals and project suggestions were formulated only in the last 4 months. These activities relative to the objectives are summarized below.
Objective 1: Contacting Agencies That Are Primary Customers
Continuous contact is maintained with personnel from EPA Region 8 throughout the year. In addition, contacts have been developed with the people at the Office of Research and Development in Cincinnati, and meetings with Superfund coordinators on priority site activities have been conducted. These efforts have resulted in assessment activities performed by Jim Ranville's group in North Clear Creek being extended to performing total toxicity assessment tests in conjunction with EPA Region 8 and to finding a low-cost enzyme test in conjunction with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Because of these efforts, North Clear Creek is becoming a prime mine waste assessment demonstration site.
With the aid of Diana Bless and David Reisman of EPA in Cincinnati, Ohio, a contract was negotiated that calls for students at the Colorado School of Mines to assist with demonstration projects in the operation, sampling, and analysis activities in Region 8. Currently, the students are assisting in the operation of the Pulsed Limestone Bed demonstration at the Argo Tunnel in Idaho Springs and in the analysis of samples from EPA demonstration projects in Montana.
Objective 2: Interviewing the Principal Investigators for Each Center Research Project
A draft of a technical applications summary has been prepared for each project. A brochure that can be disseminated on demonstration projects was finished in September 2004.
Objective 3: Combining Our Results With Those of Other Organizations
A contract to help with operation and analytical activities at the Argo Tunnel currently is being carried out. In addition, the alkalinity generator of Barnaby Watten and Phil Sibrell of the USGS, Kearneysville, West Virginia, was included in a proposal for the treatment of French Gulch water in Breckenridge that currently is under review. Laboratory tests on water from the French Gulch were conducted to determine the efficiency of zinc removal using this technology. About one-half of the zinc and 90 percent of the iron were removed. The plan is to find mine water in which zinc is the main contaminant to show how the pulsed limestone process can be used for this type of treatment. A proposal on this technology was submitted to the Mine Waste Technology Program (MWTP). James Ranville from the Center was added to the proposal to investigate the geochemical principles behind the removal process. This is an important example of how Technology Transfer is using Center capabilities to fill in scientific holes and make a promising technology more viable.
At the International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage 2003 Meeting and again at Tailings and Mine Waste '04 in October, attempts were made to assist Greg Olsen of Little Bear Laboratories to find a waste rock pile that can be used to demonstrate a new method for controlling the bacteria that catalyze the oxidation of pyrite that uses thiocyanate. In addition, because there is some uncertainty on the chemistry involved in the suppression of the bacteria, efforts are being undertaken to find a faculty member who could investigate this aspect of the process. A successful team of developer, scientist, and technology customer has been found. In this case the customer is a private company, and we are in negotiations with that company for funding.
Objective 4: Finding Situations for Going to the Demonstration Phase
Recently, inquiries have begun to see how technologies that are being developed at MSE Technology Applications in Montana can be combined with the research that is being conducted at the Center. The objective of this activity is to find proper combinations of projects that can be combined for proposals to the MWTP. Center research project R829515C003 on the metal removal capabilities of passive bioreactor systems was in the best position to combine on a proposal with MSE. Linda Figueroa has been maintaining contacts with MSE, and a joint proposal with MSE and the Center on passive bioreactor systems was submitted to the MWTP.
The consulting firm Envirocon is just starting reclamation of the sediment in the Milltown Dam site in Montana. In conjunction with Jim Ranville, the principal investigator on Center research project R829515C013 focused on developing improved methods for establishing water quality criteria for mining impacted streams, we are in negotiations to determine whether we can assist in the assessment work that will have to be done on the sediments that are removed from the reservoir.
In conjunction with Jim Herron of the Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology, a proposal was submitted to the Colorado Abandoned Mine Lands Program for assessment work in Gilson Gulch at the Idaho Springs/Central City Superfund site. Money for assessment work was not available this year, however, so the proposal will be resubmitted next year.
Although the original objective on contacting and interacting with related societies and committees has been eliminated, activities in this area have not ceased. A short course, " Assessing the Toxicity Potential of Mine Waste Piles," was presented to 20 people at EPA Region 8 on November 20, 2003. A similar short course, " Characterization and Assessment of Mine Sites," also was given by Jim Ranville and Tom Wildeman at the National Meeting of the Geological Society of America in Denver, Colorado, on November 6, 2004, and again at the National Meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry in Portland, Oregon, on November 14, 2004. A specific section of this course, " Methods to Determine the Bioaccessibility of Metals From Waste," was developed from Center-sponsored research. Related to the activities of the treatment focus group, James Gusek and Tom Wildeman again gave our revised Passive Treatment Workshop at Tailings and Mine Waste '04 on October 10, 2004, in Vail, Colorado.
Besides these activities, talks representing the Center were given at EPA Region 8 in December 2003, at the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration Annual Meeting in February 2004, at the National American Society of Mining and Reclamation Meeting in Morgantown, West Virginia, in April 2004, and at Tailings and Mine Waste '04 in Vail, Colorado, in October 2004.
Future Activities:
Planned activities related to Objective 1, contacting agencies that are primary customers, are as follows:
- We will contact representatives of the U.S. Forest Service and EPA Region 8 to inform them of Center activities. The materials describing our activities will be the CD-ROMs of the short courses and the application briefs that have been generated in Objective 2. We will determine if we can be of any immediate help, solicit from them their primary technical needs for dealing with AML sites, and make certain that these needs are included in the yearly Request for Proposals.
- We will continue contacts with EPA, the OSM, the BLM and the MWTP, especially with respect to determining their technical needs for inclusion in next years Request for Proposals.
Objective 2, interviewing the principal investigators for each Center research project, has been completed for all current and past Center research projects.
Planned activities related to Objective 3, combining our results with those of other organizations, are as follows:
- We will continue the working relationship with MSE Technology Applications to see how we can further bundle our research and development results and present them to organizations for possible demonstration projects.
- We will continue the working relationship with the USGS on mine waste assessment with the goal of initiating some reconnaissance projects with EPA, the BLM, or the U.S. Forest Service.
- We will pursue opportunities to bundle the knowledge gained through Center research on metal toxicity thresholds for important reclamation plant species and hydrologic models for alternative covers for mine waste piles with other organizations that are interested in reclamation projects.
Planned activities related to Objective 4, finding situations for going to the demonstration phase, are as follows:
- We will continue to explore demonstration situations with the agencies that are the primary customers of the Center, including MSE Technology Applications.
- We will continue to monitor the activities of the other HSRCs to determine if any of their activities would benefit from our expertise in treating metals contamination.
- We will implement the Scientific Advisory Committees suggestion to secure substrate samples of actual operating passive treatment systems so that they can be analyzed by the analytical schemes that were developed in Center project R829515C003 on metal removals capabilities of passive bioreactors and characterization of microbial inocula.
Progress Summary/Accomplishments: Most proposals and project suggestions were formulated only in the last 4 months. These activities relative to the objectives are summarized below.
Supplemental Keywords:
Technical Outreach Services for Communities, TOSC, Technical Assistance to Brownfields, TAB, groundwater, industry sectors, waste, water, ecological risk assessment, ecology, ecosystems, ecology and ecosystems, environmental chemistry, environmental engineering, geology, geochemistry, toxicology, microbiology, hazardous, hazardous waste, mining-NAIC 21, selenium, acid mine drainage, acid mine runoff, aquatic ecosystems, arsenic, contaminant transport, contaminated sediments, contaminated marine sediment, contaminated waste sites, contaminated sites, contaminated soil, field monitoring, mining-impacted runoff, sediment transport, stream ecosystems, suspended sediment, sediments, mining, remediation, metal mobility, subsurface, extraction of metals, heavy metals, leaching of toxic metals, metal release, metal wastes, metals, metals-contaminated soil, mining wastes, remediation technologies, risk assessment,, RFA, Industry Sectors, Scientific Discipline, Waste, Water, Contaminated Sediments, Remediation, Mining - NAIC 21, Hazardous Waste, Ecology and Ecosystems, Ecological Risk Assessment, Environmental Engineering, Hazardous, Geology, risk assessment, contaminant transport, contaminated waste sites, contaminated marine sediment, suspended sediment, runoff, sediment transport, stream ecosystems, acid mine drainage, remediation technologies, training and outreach, natural organic matter, field monitoring, mining, Selenium, treatment, aquatic ecosystems, technology transfer, arsenic, mining wastes, redox, groundwater, mining impacted watershed, acid mine runoff, heavy metals, technical outreachRelevant Websites:
http://www.engr.colostate.edu/hsrc/ Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractMain Center Abstract and Reports:
R829515 Center for Comprehensive, optimaL, and Effective Abatement of Nutrients Subprojects under this Center: (EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
R829515C001 Redox Transformations, Complexation and Soil/Sediment
Interactions of Inorganic Forms of As and Se in Aquatic Environments: Effects
of Natural Organic Matter
R829515C002 Fate and Transport of Metals and Sediment in Surface Water
R829515C003 Metal Removal Capabilities of Passive Bioreactor Systems: Effects of Organic Matter and Microbial Population Dynamics
R829515C004 Evaluating Recovery of Stream Ecosystems from Mining Pollution:
Integrating Biochemical, Population, Community and Ecosystem Indicators
R829515C005 Rocky Mountain Regional Hazardous Substance Research Center
Training and Technology Transfer Program
R829515C006 Technical Outreach Services for Communities and Technical Assistance to Brownfields
R829515C007 Evaluation of Hydrologic Models for Alternative Covers at Mine Waste Sites
R829515C008 Microbial Reduction of Uranium in Mine Leachate by Fermentative and Iron-Reducing Bacteria
R829515C009 Development and Characterization of Microbial Inocula for High-Performance Passive Treatment of Acid Mine Drainage
R829515C010 Reactive Transport Modeling of Metal Removal From Anaerobic Biozones
R829515C011 Assessment of Electrokinetic Injection of Amendments for Remediation of Acid Mine Drainage
R829515C012 Metal Toxicity Thresholds for Important Reclamation Plant Species of the Rocky Mountains
R829515C013 An Improved Method for Establishing Water Quality Criteria for Mining Impacted Streams
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.