Refining wastes added to hazards list

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has added four refining process byproducts to its hazardous waste list. EPA said, "These wastes present unacceptable risks under existing management practices, and this rule specifies that these materials be handled as hazardous and managed safely." The Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984 requires EPA to study and determine which refining wastes should be considered hazardous. The agency decided not to list as hazardous 10 other refining wastes

July 13, 1998

2 min read

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has added four refining process byproducts to its hazardous waste list.

EPA said, "These wastes present unacceptable risks under existing management practices, and this rule specifies that these materials be handled as hazardous and managed safely."

The Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984 requires EPA to study and determine which refining wastes should be considered hazardous. The agency decided not to list as hazardous 10 other refining wastes evaluated.

The EPA final rule adds four Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste codes to the current list. They are: crude oil storage tank sediment; clarified slurry oil storage tank sediment and/or in-line filter/separation solids; spent hydrotreating catalyst, including guard beds used to desulfurize feeds to other catalytic reactors (excludes inert support media); and spent hydrorefining catalyst, including guard beds used to desulfurize feeds to other catalytic reactors (excludes inert support media).

EPA is working on treatment standards under the land disposal restrictions for the four wastes.

It said the wastes were deemed hazardous after risk assessments showed that benzene, arsenic, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the wastes may be released into the environment when disposed of in landfills and land treatment units.

EPA also issued three exclusions from the definition of solid waste related to the refining industry.

They are: oil-bearing secondary materials that are generated at refineries and introduced into refining processes to facilitate continued hydrocarbon recovery; certain types of recovered oil from petrochemical facilities, when the oil is recycled by being returned to a co-located petroleum refinery for introduction along with normal refinery process streams; and spent caustic generated by refineries when used as feedstock in the manufacture of certain commercial chemical products.