Remediation Risk Assessment of the

Burlington Pine Street Barge Canal

Shelby Fraga

J.T. Gravelie

Anna Kovaliv

ENSC 202- Spring 2008

Overview

• Problem Statement & Purpose Statement

• History of site• Components of Contamination• Health Risks of exposure • Current Site Analysis• Possible Alternative

Remediation techniques• Our Suggestions

Problem Statement

• Remediation of the Pine Street Barge Canal has the potential to release subsurface carcinogenic substances into the local environment.

Purpose Statement

• This project aims to discover whether carcinogenic materials will be released upon remediation of the Barge Canal Superfund site. – If there is an associated release,

what is the potential risk for humans in the area?

– What exposure pathways of these toxins are harmful to humans?

History of Site…

• 1895 - Burlington Gas Works built a coal gasification plant

• 1967 - City ordered the plant to be dismantled many oil spills and a fire ensued

• 1967 (Later) - Burlington Electric removed 20,000 cubic yards of waste soils from their Pearl Street site without recording their disposal site.

• 1968 - More oil leaches into the lake. It is decided that action needs to be taken.

…History continued

• 1983 - Site put on the National Priorities list

• 1992 - EPA remediation plan that involved the removal of the contaminated sediments, however after the public comment period this idea was canned

• 1998 - New plan was proposed and accepted

Components of Contamination

• Volatile Organic Compounds– Benzene– Toluene– Ethylbenzene– Xylene

• Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons– Naphthalene

Health Risks of Exposure…

• “Benzene is considered very toxic; probable human oral lethal dose would be 50-500 mg/kg. Human inhalation of approximately 20,000 ppm (2% in air) was fatal in 5-10 minutes” (MSDS 2008). It is a known human carcinogen.

• “Inhalation of high concentrations (>200 ppm) of toluene are clearly associated with […] headache, depression, lassitude (weakness, exhaustion), impaired coordination, transient memory loss, and impaired reaction time” (MSDS 2008).

…Health Risks of Exposure.

• According to the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services, their standards for naphthalene are no more than 20 ppb in drinking water, and 0.2 ppm in the air (Naphthalene 2003). Acute effects include headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, malaise, confusion, anemia, jaundice, convulsions, and coma. It is also a known carcinogen.

Current Remediation Plan

• Capping the contaminated sediments with sand and silt

• The installation of booms in the canal

• Defining the boundaries of the site• Coming up with controls for the

ground water and land use• Setting up long-term monitoring and

5 year performance reviews.

Current Site Analysis…

• The clay cap should be holding the contaminates in place…

• Cap is failing within the canal– Leading to a release of NAPLs

(Non Aqueous Phase Liquids)– This is not helped by the changing

water levels

…Current Site Analysis continued.

• The booms placed in the canal should be stopping the release of the NAPLs ( which are not biodegradable)

• Booms work well when there is no wave action, however any ripple of wave allows contaminants wash underneath

• In the past five years two of the booms have needed to be replaced

EPA 5-Year Report, October 2006…

Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Site Remediation and Restoration, Region 1. “Five-Year Review

Report for Pine Street Barge Canal Superfund Site Burlington, Chittenden County, Vermont.” (October 2006).

…5-Year Report

Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Site Remediation and Restoration, Region 1. “Five-Year Review Report for Pine Street Barge Canal Superfund Site Burlington, Chittenden County, Vermont.” (October 2006).

Possible Remediation Techniques

• Contained Recovery of Oily Waste

• Green Waste Composting

• Biodiesel

• Living Machine Technology

Contained Recovery of Oily Waste (CROW) Process

• Supposed to remove most mobile NAPL and leave behind only a small amount of immobile contamination

• Designed for DNAPL (like Coal Tar)• Process reduces viscosity and

increases the solubility of the contaminant

• Works best on contamination in sandy soils

Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Washington DC. “Western Research Institute Contained Recovery of Oily Wastes (CROW) Process, Innovative Technology Report.” (March 2000).

CROW Method

• Pump hot water into sediment to free contamination

• Pump out water through several small wells

• Separate DNAPL, LNAPL, recycle water

• Treat off-site

Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Washington DC. “Western Research Institute Contained Recovery of Oily Wastes (CROW) Process, Innovative Technology Report.” (March 2000).

EPA Innovative Technology Evaluation Report for CROW (WRI)

Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Washington DC. “Western Research Institute Contained Recovery of Oily Wastes (CROW) Process, Innovative Technology Report.” (March 2000).

Green Waste Composting

• Biodegradation of PAHs using composting techniques

• Green Waste addition as source of nutrients

• In-vessel composting: keep oxygen out (also keeps airborne toxins in)

• At 38C, up to 75% of PAH can be removed after 65 days of treatment with fresh green waste.

Antizar-Ladislao, B., Lopez-Real, A., Beck, A.J., “Bioremediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in an aged coal-tar-contaminated soil using different in-vessel composting approaches.” Journal of Hazardous Materials B137 (2006) 1583-1588.

Bioremediation using Biodiesel

• Addition of Motor diesel or Biodiesel (plus nutrient addition and agitation) helps the contamination:– Become less viscous– Through this increased surface area

availability, it will degrade faster• Biodiesel is biodegradable • Motor diesel is a hydrocarbon

pollutant• Capable of removing 2 & 3 ring

PAHs (possible 4 & 5 with longer time period)

Taylor, L.T., Jones, D.M., “Bioremediation of coal tar PAH in soils using biodiesel.” Chemosphere 44 (2001) 1131-1136. July 2000.

Biodiesel Lab Test Results

Taylor, L.T., Jones, D.M., “Bioremediation of coal tar PAH in soils using biodiesel.” Chemosphere 44 (2001) 1131-1136. July 2000.

•Biodiesel Reduced Naphthalene by 85%

Biodiesel Field Test Results

Taylor, L.T., Jones, D.M., “Bioremediation of coal tar PAH in soils using biodiesel.” Chemosphere 44 (2001) 1131-1136. July 2000.

•Biodiesel reduced Naphthalene by 52%

Living Machines

• John Todd created a machine he believes is capable of cleaning Bunker C. Oil

• Bunker Oil: High concentrations of PAHs, and 5% of its weight is made up of large five- to six-ringed PAHs

• Contaminated soils put in first tank, water runs through all 4 tanks

Adams, J., Beam, M., Olin, C., Todd, Jon., Todd. Jonathon. “Fisherville Eco-Machine Pilot Final Report. April 27, 2007. John Todd Ecological Design, INC: Solutions for Water Planning and Treatment.

Our suggestions:

• Biodiesel to remove the PAH, (based on size of PAH contamination)

• Perhaps more research needs to be done to create a suitable Living Machine

• Create an ecorevelatory remediation plan that could be an educational tool for Burlington

Questions?