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Mud Cat Case Study

Mud Cat™

Dredging and Thermal Remediation at Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant (LAAP)
By International Technology (IT Corp.)

In the management of hazardous materials, land disposal is not always the preferred disposal medium. IT Corporation has innovated several thermal treatment technologies that effectively destroy or detoxify hazardous and toxic organic materials.

IT offers compressive Thermal Treatment Services, from initial waste characterization studies and permitting to the process design, final construction, start-up and operation.

IT has evolved as the leader in thermal treatment, using innovative technologies such as the Hybrid Thermal Treatment System® (HTTS®), the industry's highest-capacity, transportable system.

Hybrid Thermal Treatment System (HTTS)
IT's HTTS employs the latest modularization techniques, which allow alternative process components to be substituted for the existing modules to suit any given application. This skid-mounted design also makes the HTTS suitable for transportable applications, such as Superfund sites. HTTS forms a versatile and reliable "core process" for an Integrated Hazardous Waste Management Facility (IHWMF).

HTTS can safely and economically handle a wide range of liquid, solid and semisolids (sludge) waste types, while controlling the quality of combustion gas emission, ash and water discharges to comply with stringent regulatory criteria.

HTTS is an innovative and patented configuration of proven and demonstrated technologies. The patents cover:

• Utilization of countercurrent controlled air operation
• High turbulent mixing in the secondary combustion chamber to ensure high waste-destruction efficiency
• Controlled ash quality by means of adjusting the treatment zones inside the kiln
• A crystallization process that eliminates aqueous purge from a wet gas cleaning system, even when incinerating highly halogenated wastes

Five HTTS hazardous waste incineration systems have been designed, built and operated with waste processing thermal capacities in the range of 50 to 150 million British thermal units (Btu) per hour. Major unit operations are matched to specific waste profiles. To date, IT has successfully incinerated more than 600,000 tons of contaminated liquid, soils and sludges with the HTTS technology.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Ft. Worth District; Minden, Louisiana, $28.4 Million
Both the USACE and IT received many compliments from the EPA and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality on the work performed at LAAP. In addition, IT received a letter of appreciation from the USACE complimenting IT's quality performance on a very involved and difficult project.

The scope of work included:

• Dredging and excavation of 16 contaminated lagoons with a custom-designed, remote-controlled Mud Cat auger dredge.
• Blending and handling of wet gumbo clay material
• Incineration of 102,000 tons of material contaminated with explosives
• Processing of 50 million gallons of contaminated water
• On-site ash analysis
• Quality assurance/quality control and health and safety programs
• Development of material-handling equipment and procedures for high water
• Content feed materials
• On-schedule completion of the nation's largest turnkey Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) project to date.

Source: Excerpted from IT Corp.