[en] Cyanide is present at manufactured-gas plant (MGP) sites in oxide-box residuals, which were often managed on-site as fill during active operations. Cyanide can leach from these materials, causing groundwater contamination. Speciation, fate, and transport of cyanide in a sand-gravel aquifer underlying an MGP site in the upper Midwest region of the US were studied through characterization, monitoring, and modeling of a plume of cyanide-contaminated groundwater emanating from the site. Results indicate that cyanide in the groundwater is primarily in the form of iron-cyanide complexes (>98%), that these complexes are stable under the conditions of the aquifer, and that they are transported as nonreactive solutes in the sand-gravel aquifer material. Weak-acid-dissociable cyanide, which represents a minute fraction of total cyanide in the site groundwater, may undergo chemical-biological degradation in the sand-gravel aquifer. It seems that dilution may be the only natural attenuation mechanism for iron-cyanide complexes in sand-gravel aquifers at MGP sites

[en] This paper presents an overview of the Gas Research Institute program on the restoration of manufactured gas plant (MGP) sites. A description of the primary wastes and chemicals that are found at MGP sites is provided and the primary risks posed by these wastes are summarized. To address these risks, a hierarchy of site restoration strategies is defined for the management of free hydrocarbons and organic-contaminated groundwater and soils. Bench-, pilot-, and field-scale test results on the treatment of these wastes, which includes recycle as fuels, groundwater cotreatment in municipal treatment plants, selected physical/chemical groundwater treatment, and thermal desorption, bioremediation, and washing of soils, are presented

[en] Bioremediation (i.e., land treatment) has been demonstrated to be a viable option for treating a variety of soils contamianted with organics. Conventional treatability studies utilize soil microcosm experiments to evaluate the potential for bioremediation of specific contaminated soils. Unfortunately, soil microcosms take from 4- to 6-months to complete and do not fully exploit the current understanding of the bioremediation process. This paper describes a treatability protocol that investigates underlying mechanisms and can be completed in 2- to 3-months. It is believed that soil bioremediation is governed by the sequential processes of contanate desorption from the soil into the aqueous phase and subsequent oxidation by microorganisms. The relative importance of each process depends upon the contaminant and soil. Accordingly, the treatability protocol has three steps. In the first step, tests are performed to determine soil characteristics. In the second step, tests are performed to characterize the desorption of contaminants from the soil. In the third step, the potential for biological oxidaiton is evaluated with a soil-water slurry reactor that maximizes desorption and provides an optimum environment for microbial growth. This paper provides a thorough discussion of the laboratory protocol including the primary theoretical tenets which serve as its basis. Preliminary procedures and results are presented for soils contaminated with manufactured gas plant (MGP) wastes. Particular attention is focused on biodegradation of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

[en] Bioremediation has been demonstrated to be a viable alternative for treating soils contaminated with PAHs. however, given the variability encountered in soils characteristics and contamination level, their susceptibility to biological treatment must be assessed on a case-by-case basis. This paper discusses a new treatability protocol, the GRI Accelerated Treatability Protocol. The mainstay of the protocol, which is designed to quickly provide treatability data for a given contaminated soil is a bioslurry experiment, in which the contaminated soil is continuously stirred and provided with abundant oxygen, nutrients and water, to maximize biological activity and thus contaminant removal. The results of using such protocol on four soils, widely differing in physical characteristics and contamination levels, are compared to the results of traditional pan studies, and an empirical equation, describing the observed soil concentrations as a function of time in both slurry and pans, is presented. Similarities and differences between achievable endpoints and biodegradation rates are discussed, and the applicability of the GRI Accelerated Treatability Protocol to full-scale engineered systems is addressed. Results to date indicate that, for soils with less than 10% fines slurry and pan experiments yield approximately the same endpoint, so that for those soils the GRI Accelerated Treatability Protocol can be used to assess the viability of an unsaturated bioremediation system. For soils with more than 10% fines, the slurry treatment endpoints are better than the pans. For those soils a traditional pan study experiment should be performed to evaluate the potential capabilities of unsaturated bioremediation

[en] The Gas Research Institute (GRI) of Chicago, Illinois, recently completed the first phase of a research program to develop a methodology to determine environmentally acceptable endpoints or EAEs in soil. The results of this effort are being published by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers in a text, Environmentally Acceptable Endpoints in Soil: A Risk-Based Approach to Contaminated Site Management Based on Availability of Chemicals in Soil. This presentation will review the key technical findings of this first phase of research with an emphasis on the sequestration and bioavailability of organic compounds in soil and the effect of treatment on contaminant availability, mobility, and toxicity. A strawman protocol for the tiered evaluation of the ecological risk of a contaminated site based upon contaminant availability will also be examined. The use, refinement, and possible replacement of this protocol with alternative approaches is currently being discussed with a consortia of government, academia, and industrial representatives in the states of Washington and Texas and in the New England region. The results of these discussions will be presented and the critical technical and regulatory issues that have been identified by these consortia will be summarized. Possible alternative approaches to resolve the more significant issues will also be suggested

[en] This paper discusses biodegradation, a technically viable and cost effective approach for the reduction and immobilization of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) present in contaminated soils and sludges associated with coal-tar derived processes. While it is widely reported and accepted that PAH biodegradation in soil systems does occur, the specific controlling mechanisms are not entirely understood. One common observation among published reports is that the more soluble, lower molecular weight PAH compounds are biodegraded to a greater extent than the less soluble, higher molecular weight PAHs. The rate and extent to which PAHs are removed form soil/sludges is influenced by the combined and simultaneously occurring effects of volatilization, sorption and biological oxidation. The degree to which each of these three environmental fate mechanisms occurs is mainly influenced by the physical/chemical characteristics of the contaminated media, the physical/chemical characteristics of the specific PAH compounds, and the design and operation of the particular biological treatment process