California will generate almost 1 million tons/year more of liquid hazardous wastes than it is able to treat by 2000, says Rhone-Poulenc Basic Chemicals Co., Princeton, N.J.
Most of those wastes produced will be petroleum based organic liquids, sludges and slurries, and contaminated water.
Rhone-Poulenc conducted a study of the issue as part of its effort to obtain approval of federal, state, and local permits to use excess capacity at its existing Martinez, Calif., sulfuric acid recycling plant for incinerating operate a liquid hazardous waste incinerator at its Martinez, Calif., plant.
Even if all incinerators now in the permit process are approved and the state reduces hazardous waste output by 25%, the study shows, California still will face a minimum 500,000 ton/year shortfall in treatment capacity for liquid hazardous waste by 2000.
California in 1988 produced 808,181 tons of liquid waste. Rhone-Poulenc projects that figure will climb to about 1.15 million tons in 2000 under present conditions or 868,000 tons with a 25% reduction.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
The nine county San Francisco Bay region in 1988 alone produced more than 189,000 tons of hazardous waste that could have been locally incinerated, says Rhone-Poulenc, citing California Department of Health Services figures.
Instead, most were shipped out of state or outside the region to an incinerator or landfill.
That volume still will increase to at least 209,000 tons/year by 2000, assuming the same 25% overall output reduction figure.
Northern California presently has about 250 tons of commercial incineration capacity, the company said.
FUTURE TECHNOLOGY
John Klepeis, business director of Rhone-Poulenc's recycle and recovery unit, said research shows no new breakthrough technologies are expected that would greatly reduce the amount of waste being generated.
"On the contrary, interviews with waste generators and government agencies indicate that the waste stream volumes will increase substantially in the future due to tighter restrictions on disposal, the classification of more wastes as hazardous and bans on export of hazardous waste," Klepeis said.
In 1983, Rhone-Poulenc designed a method of combining incineration of certain liquid wastes and pumpable sludges with its sulfuric acid regeneration process.
Its Houston sulfuric acid recycling plant in 1987 became the first in the U.S. to receive a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Part B permit to incinerate liquid hazardous waste.
The company obtained a Part B permit for its Baton Rouge, La., plant in 1989.
MARTINEZ PROJECT
Klepeis said Rhone-Poulenc will modify the Martinez plant rather than build a new incinerator by adding new feed lines and greater storage and handling facilities. Incineration is part of its present sulfuric acid recycling process.
The petroleum based organic portions of the liquid waste become fuels and the water based wastes serve as coolants for the acid regenerating plant.
Although the Environmental Protection Agency requires incinerators have a destruction removal efficiency (DRE) of 99.99% of organic components, Rhone-Poulenc's Martinez project is designed for a DRE of 99.999%.
A draft environmental impact report on the project is expected in January, and public hearings required by the California Environmental Quality Act will begin shortly after that.
The company expects action on its local permit applications in mid-1991.
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