Dr.
Rajendra Gode Institute Of Technology
& Research.
SEMINAR ON
Hazardous Waste Management
Guided By: Submitted By:
Prof. P.R. PATIL H.K .SHAH
CONTENT
• Introduction
• Classification of Hazardous Waste
• Characteristic tests to determine Hazardous waste.
• Basic Approach in Hazardous Waste Management
• Environmental Risk Assesment
• Physicochemical Treatment of Hazardous Waste
• Biological Treatment of Solid and Hazardous Waste
• Storage of Hazardous Waste
• Conclusion
• References
INTRODUCTION
After China India is the largest populous country in world it share 16%
of world population and 2.5% of world’s land . Rapid industrialization in last
few decades have led to the depletion of pollution of precious natural resources
in India depletes and pollutes resources continuously. Further the rapid
industrial developments have, also, led to the generation of huge quantities of
hazardous wastes, which have further aggravated the environmental problems
in the country by depleting and polluting natural resources. Therefore,
rational and sustainable utilization of natural resources and its protection from
toxic releases is vital therefore we need to manage hazardous waste for
economic development of country.
CLASSIFICATION OF HAZARDOUS WASTE
1. Specific type of wastes from nonspecific sources:
a. halogenated and non-halogenated solvents
b. electro-plating sludges
c. cyanide solutions from plating batches
2. Specific types of wastes from specific sources;
a. oven residue from production of chrome oxide green segments
b. brine purification muds from the mercury cell process in chlorine
production
3. Specific substances identified as acute hazardous waste:
a. potassium silver cyanide,
b. toxaphene
c. arsenic oxide.
4. Specific substances identified as hazardous wastes
e.g. Xylene, DDT, carbon tetrachloride
5. Characteristic wastes:
Wastes not specifically identified elsewhere exhibiting properties of:
ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity.
Characteristic tests to determine whether a waste is
hazardous or not.
A) Ignitability
Wastes that pose a fire hazard during routine handling, storage, processing,
Transport, or disposal . If a solid waste possesses any of the following
properties.1)Liquid containing less than 24% alcohol by volume and has flash
point less than 60oC 2)Liquid capable of causing fire through friction under
standard temperature and pressure o Is an ignitable compressed gas 3)Is an
oxidant. Examples – paint thinners and paint removing compounds, solvents
used for cleaning parts and degreasing
B) Flammability
1) Vapours of volatile organic compounds can ignite in the presence of a spark
2) Lower Flammability Limit (LFL) and Upper Flammability Limit (UFL) of
mixture.
C) Corrosivity
Corrosive wastes occur at extreme pH o 𝑝𝐻 ≤ 2.5, 𝑝𝐻 ≥ 12.5 o Liquid
corrodes steel at a rate greater than 6.35 mm per year and at a temperature of
55oC o Examples – battery acid, phenol wastes, acidic wastes from metal
plating industries.
D) Reactivity
a) Unstable waste b)Reacts violently with water c)When mixed with water,
generates toxic gases/ vapours/ fumes d) Cyanide or sulphide bearing wastes
e)Can pose sufficient danger to human health or environment.
BASIC APPROACH IN HAZARDOUS WASTE
MANAGEMENT
A logical priority in managing hazardous waste would be to:
1. Reduce the amount of hazardous wastes generated in the first place.
[Link] factory’s hazardous wastes can become another’s feedstock e.g. acid and
solvent wastes from some industries can be utilized by others without
processing.
3. Recycle metals, the energy content, and other useful resources contained in
hazardous wastes.
4. Detoxify and neutralize liquid hazardous waste streams by chemical and
biological treatment.
5. Destroy combustible hazardous wastes in special high-temperature
incinerators equipped with proper pollution control and monitoring systems.
6. Dispose of remaining treated residues in specially designed landfills.
ENVIRONMENTAL RISK ASSESSMENT
Environment Risk can be quantified. Imagine a scenario where there is a source
of hazardous waste, a pathway for its transport, and receptors such as human
beings. Hazard is the intrinsic capability of the waste to cause harm. Hazard does
not represent risk unless exposure or possibility of exposure occurs.
How risk can be Quantified?
A)Hazard identification a) Source of contamination b)Properties of contaminants
c) Quantity and distribution of hazardous waste B)Exposure assessment
a)Transport and transformation of contaminants (pathways) C)Toxicity
assessment a)Receptor at source and along pathway/ at exposure b)Response to
exposure is studied c) Based on response, critical concentrations (critical dose) of
contaminants are identified.
Exposure Pathway
An exposure pathway should specifically examine the following points:
a)The contaminant source or release – Sources may include storage containers,
landfills, and so on.
b)Environmental fate and transport – Once released into the environment,
contaminants move through different media.
c)Exposure point or area – Specific locations where people may come into
contact with contaminants.
d)Exposure route – Route by means of which people physically contact
environmental contaminants at the exposure point (inhalation/ ingestion/
dermal contact).
e)Potentially exposed populations – Identifying and characterizing populations
that may have come into contact with contaminants
PHYSICOCHEMICAL TREATMENT OF
HAZARDOUS WASTES
Hazardous waste treatment process is complex due to several reasons:
1)Many different contaminants can be present at a hazardous waste site
2)Concentrations and properties of the contaminants are varied
3)Groundwater/ surface soil/ surface water/ air – any or all of the media may
require remediation
4)Mode of transport of contaminants through media needs to be known.
Common Physical treatment processes include:
Pump-and-treat systems, Soil vapour extraction, Air sparging, groundwater
circulation wells, multiphase extraction and soil heating.
Some Chemical processes which are employed in treating hazardous
wastes are:
Precipitation, chemical oxidation and reduction, permeable reactive barriers,
stabilization/solidification, adsorption and ion exchange, electrochemical
processes, chemical leaching and solvent extraction, soil flushing and washing.
Chemical treatment of hazardous wastes is carried out through the application of
one of more chemical reactions.
Stabilization
This process reduces the mobility of contaminants so that partitioning does not
occur readily. Stabilization encompasses solidification as one of the options.
The waste treated by stabilization/solidification includes metals, organics,
radioactive wastes, and non-metals with and without organics.
Some mechanisms of stabilization:
A) Macroencapsulation
B) Microencapsulation
C) Absorption.
D) Adsorption
E)Precipitation
G) Vitrification
Soil vapour extraction
(SVE) operates on the principle of placing a vacuum on the contaminated
soil, which facilitates the movement of contaminant vapours from soil or soil-
water to air. It can be performed in situ or ex situ (pile of excavated soil). It is
important to maintain a continuous air flow (air sparging) in the zone to be
remediated, as well a vacuum in the subsurface region. The time taken for SVE
depends on size and depth of polluted area, type of soil (wet or dense soil slows
down the process), and type of contaminants present in the soil. SVE involves
placing of extraction wells in the soil (drilled into the soil, but above water
table). Air injection wells help in the pumping of air to the soil – this causes to
contaminants to evaporate faster and thus be captured by the extraction well.
CARBON ADSORPTION
The principal use of vapour phase activated carbon in the environmental field is
for the removal of volatile organic compounds such as hydrocarbons, solvents,
toxic gases and organic based odours. In addition, chemically impregnated
activated carbons can be used to control certain inorganic pollutants such as
hydrogen sulphide, mercury, or [Link] properly applied, the adsorption
process will remove pollutants for which it is designed, to virtually non
detectable levels. In fact one of the first large- scale uses of activated carbon
was in military gas masks where complete contaminant removal is essential.
Carbon adsorption is equally effective on single component emissions as well
as complex mixtures of pollutants.
In the industrial area, the most common applications of activated carbon are for
process off-gases, tank vent emissions, work area air purification, and odour
control, either within the plant or related to plant exhausts. Additionally,
activated carbon is used in the hazardous waste remediation area to treat off-
gases from air strippers and from soil vapour extraction remediation projects.
INCINERATION
An engineering process that employs thermal decomposition via thermal
oxidation at high temperatures (800-1600 C) to convert a waste to a lower
volume and non-hazardous material. Products from combustion of organic
wastes are carbon dioxide, water vapour & inert ash. Other products can be
formed depending on waste composition.
Biological Treatment of Solid and Hazardous Waste
Synthetic chemical compounds are relatively resistant to
biodegradation. Microorganisms that are naturally present often cannot
produce the enzymes necessary to degrade complex compounds and
these compounds are toxic thus killing the biomass. Co-treatment of
industrial and domestic waste with the addition of nutrients in
biological systems is often a practical system that has been tested in
India as a cheap and effective compared to chemical treatments. It
consists of the introduction of food they consume, alter and detoxify the
waste. This is what is called secondary processing. Table 2
demonstrates that members of almost every class of anthropogenic
compound can be degraded by some microorganism the table also
illustrates the wide variety of organisms that participate in
environmental significant biodegradation.
Examples of anthropogenic compounds and microorganisms that can degrade
them
STORAGE OF HAZARDOUS WASTE
Storage is the holding of waste for a temporary period of time prior to the waste
being treated, disposed, or stored elsewhere. Hazardous waste is commonly stored
prior to treatment or disposal, and must be stored in containers, tanks, containment
buildings, drip pads, waste piles, or surface impoundments that comply with the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulations.
CONTAINERS
A hazardous waste container is any portable device in which a hazardous waste is
stored, transported, treated, disposed, or otherwise handled. The most common
hazardous waste container is the 55-gallon drum. Other examples of containers are
tanker trucks, railroad cars, buckets, bags, and even test tubes.
TANKS
Tanks are stationary devices constructed of non-earthen materials used to store
or treat hazardous waste. Tanks can be open-topped or completely enclosed and
are constructed of a wide variety of materials including steel, plastic, fiberglass,
and concrete.
DISPOSAL OF HAZARDOUS WASTE
DEEP WELL INJECTION
Deep well injection is a liquid waste disposal technology. This alternative uses
injection wells to place treated or untreated liquid waste into geologic
formations that have no potential to allow migration of contaminants into
potential potable water aquifers. A typical injection well consists of concentric
pipes, which extend several thousand feet down from the surface level into
highly saline, permeable injection zones that are confined vertically by
impermeable strata. The outermost pipe or surface casing, extends below the
base of any underground sources of drinking water and is cemented back to the
surface to prevent contamination of the USDW. underground sources of
drinking water
CONCLUSION
The industry driven economy of India's has resulted in
hazardous waste problems, which are difficult to manage in an
environmentally friendly manner.
The lack of awareness, improper implementation of principles
and laws, absence of proper infrastructure and centralized
disposal facilities, and lack of technical and financial resources
have led to the unscientific disposal of hazardous wastes
posing serious threat to human, animal and plant life
REFERENCES
1. B. V. Babu and V. Ramakrishna(2007) Hazardous waste management
in India, Birla institute of technology & science, Pilani.
2. Hazardous Waste (Management, Handling & Transboundary
Movement) Rules(2008), Central pollution control board, Govt. of India.
3. Dr. V. Rajagopalan(2006) Hazardous waste management in India- an
overview, India-EU environment forum, CPCB, Delhi.
4. Prof. M. S. Subramanian Chemical methods of treatment,
Environmental chemistry and analysis, module 7, IIT Madras.