The Veolia Environment (Vol. 10)

Volume 10

The Veolia Environment Turning Waste into a Resource

Technical Solutions

Researching New Recycling Technologies “My full time job is turning waste into a resource,” begins George Martin, Vice President, Technology Development.

“That’s what is best for the environment, and it’s how we differentiate ourselves from the competition. It’s the right thing to do.

“Veolia has about thirty employees devoted to developing programs for recycling and reuse of waste materials. Right now, we are actively working on up to ten initiatives, which are all market opportunities to develop new technologies or new solutions for our clients.”

A brief description of each of the initiatives follows.

Ethanol Recovery Veolia is using waste from a variety of sources— pharmaceutical, biotech, consumer products, healthcare and beauty products—to recover ethanol. There is also research in progress within the industry on cellulosic ethanol sources. See page 4 for more information on our ethanol recovery facility in Medina, OH. Gasification Syngas is produced through the gasification of organic waste materials. The produced syngas contains carbon monoxide and hydrogen. It is a combustible gas that has about one-fourth the energy of natural gas and is most commonly used as a substitute fuel or the hydrogen is separated and is used by refineries for making clean energy fuels. Veolia is looking at gasification as a technology for future solutions to turn organic waste back into useful products. Once the correct carbon monoxide/hydrogen ratio is achieved, any organic material can be turned back into basic organic building blocks, or separated to produce tonnage hydrogen.

Catalyst Recycling Hydrotreating is a process involving a reaction of hydrocarbons with hydrogen to remove impurities from the crude oil or other refinery products. The reaction is facilitated by a catalyst, which is created by impregnating an alumina substrate with 10% to 12% molybdenum and 3% to 4% of either nickel or cobalt. The moly oxide is then extracted from spent catalyst from hydrotreating and is sold as a product to the steel industry where it is combined with iron to make steel. Molybdenum’s value is between $8 and $25/pound. Veolia’s incineration facilities have permits to store the spent catalyst, which is considered hazardous waste (K171 and K172). If it is recycled, however, it is removed from the hazardous waste category.

Metals Recycling Veolia processes copper and tin bearing sludges into products that we sell as ore-like materials to the smelters. We are expanding these processes to be able to treat chlorides or hydrochloric acid/metal bearing materials to recover magnesium chloride solution, which is used on highways for deicing. “We are selling the magnesium chloride to a wholesaler who sells it to state highway maintenance agencies,” explains Martin. “We also process electronic scrap from computers and printers. We plan to use selective extraction to separate the different metals contained in this material, which increases their value back into industry.”

Organic Solvent Recovery Useful organic solvents are being recovered from waste materials at Veolia’s five solvent recovery operations. A new column is being planned at the Colorado facility. This location also has a liquid/liquid extractor, which helps to separate two organic chemicals. “If you add a third liquid that one of the chemicals is attracted to more than they Continued on page 2

Inside Industry Perspective Coalition for Responsible Waste Incineration Pages 2–3

Facility Spotlight Ethanol Recovery Medina, OH Page 4

The Veolia Environment Researching New Recycling Technologies Continued from page 1 are attracted to each other, you can break them apart,” notes Martin.

“We’re working on a chemical process for the longer term that utilizes distillation to recover useful organic solvents.” Our Ohio location features a molecular sieve, which separates water from organic solvents and alcohols, increasing their value.

Battery Recycling Technology The technology of lithium metal and lithium ion batteries, the rechargeable batteries, is being developed as the likely application for electric cars. It’s important to extract useful metals and render the batteries harmless; lithium batteries can be a fire hazard. A subsidiary of Veolia in France is working on this project on a small scale. The timeline is approximately two or three years for commercial application in the US. Electronics Scrap Business Veolia is the largest recycler of fluorescent lamps in the United States. We crush the bulbs and separate them into metals, glass and phosphor powder, which is put through a retort to extract the mercury in the powder. Today, the phosphor powder goes to a solid waste landfill, but there are significant amounts of rare earth metals in the phosphor powder, which could be recovered. Rare earth metals are used in the manufacturing of new phosphors used to produce new lamps as well as in small, lightweight high strength magnets required in many electronics applications. These metals are found in minute quantities all over the world. Over 95% of the commercially available rare earth metals come from China today.

The use of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) is becoming more and more prevalent, because they use 1/3 the power to provide the same amount of light as incandescent lamps. CFLs contain mercurybearing phosphor powder. “If we can develop a way to extract rare earth metals from phosphor powder,” begins Martin, “it would be a terrific source for the future of this industry.”

Solar Panels Solar panels are constructed of metals attached to a glass substrate.

Veolia is working with manufacturers to develop recycling technologies for the solar panels at the end of their life. “Now, we need solutions for the rejects from manufacturing,” says Martin.

“Eventually, when the panels require replacement, they will need to be recycled. We are working to recover metals and safely dispose of the solar panels to handle them properly.”

Motor Oil Re-refining Motor oil re-refining involves recycling of the oil back into usable base oil. Veolia’s Azusa, CA, plant is collecting six to eight railcars per month of motor oil, which is currently being sent to a third party for re-refining. Veolia is developing their own solutions to re-refine the motor oil, as usage increases. “In each of these initiatives, we are taking waste material and economically turning it back into something we can use in society—turning waste into a resource,” says Martin.

Industry Perspective

Coalition for Responsible Waste Incineration Mel Keener, Executive Director, Coalition for Responsible Waste Incineration (CRWI), was asked to talk about how proposed changes to the Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards would affect incineration operations, like Veolia’s. CRWI was founded in 1987 to provide information on better ways to understand and use high temperature combustion. The organization currently has twenty-eight member companies that share interests in hazardous waste combustion and is advised by an Academic Committee.

MACT History “First, let me share some background on the regulations. The Clean Air Act of 1990 created regulations for Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT). Congress told EPA to survey the industry to identify the best performers and make everyone else come up to their

level—the top 12%. They didn’t define how to pick the top performers, only how to define what is the best control technology. At the time, that seemed like pretty clear directions for EPA. However, after almost 20 lawsuits (most of which EPA has lost), it is still not clear how to define what a top performer is for any particular source category.

“In 1999, the first MACT regulation was finalized for the hazardous waste combustion (HWC) source category. It was litigated, and the appeals court determined that the EPA hadn’t properly promulgated the regulations and overturned the decision in 2001. The court left open the option to create interim standards, and the industry took Continued on page 3

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Industry Perspective Continued from page 2 advantage of that, agreeing to interim standards that were promulgated in 2002. The court decision also laid out the groundwork for this and future MACT rules (i.e., mandating that the agency look at all factors that influence emissions—maintenance, training of operators, air pollution control technology, etc). The court made it clear that all phases of facility operations were to be taken into consideration in deciding performance standards.

“In 2005, the second set of standards was promulgated. These replaced the 2002 interim standards. The compliance date for the replacement standards was set as October 14, 2008.

“On March 13, 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the MACT standards for brick and ceramic kilns violated the Clean Air Act and vacated these standards. In this ruling, the court gave EPA a verbal spanking. This forced EPA to re-examine the 2005 HWC rule to see if the errors identified in the Brick MACT ruling were also in the 2005 HWC MACT rule.

“EPA decided that there were several errors in the 2005 rule and on August 29, 2008, EPA sent a motion to court asking to voluntarily remand 59 of the 88 standards promulgated in the ’05 rule. That same day, the Sierra Club filed a motion to vacate the entire rule.”

Impact on Incineration Facilities “For incineration facilities like Veolia’s, there is little difference in the interim standards established in 2002 and the 2005 replacement standards. It really will not matter to Veolia if the court agrees with EPA and remands the standards or if they agree with the Sierra Club and vacate the entire 2005 rule. For Phase I sources (incinerators, cement kilns and lightweight aggregate kilns) the two sets of standards are virtually identical. For example, the 2002 lead and cadmium standard is 240 micrograms per dry standard cubic meter (µg/dscm) while the 2005 lead and cadmium standard is 230 µg/dscm. The largest difference is in the chlorine standard, which is 77 ppm in the 2002 rule but changes to 31 ppm in the 2005 rule.

“From a practical standpoint, there are no differences for incinerators in monitoring, record keeping, and reporting requirements in the 2002 and 2005 rules. They are showing compliance in the same way under either set of standards. The numbers are slightly lower, but most facilities will not have a problem meeting the newer standards with existing equipment.”

Impact on Phase II Units “For Phase II units (solid fuel-fired boilers, liquid fuel-fired boilers and hydrochloric acid production furnaces), there is a big difference.

These units are currently regulated under RCRA. Requirements for monitoring, record keeping and reports are much different under RCRA than they are under the Clean Air Act. Showing compliance under RCRA is very different from showing compliance under the Clean Air Act. Any time there is a change in reporting requirements, it usually costs money to comply.”

The Future of Commercial Incineration “I don’t see this rule having a great impact on the combustion industry. The ones that were not going to come into compliance with the 2002 standards have already gone out of business. The ones that are still operating won’t see a large change in their capacity due to the requirements. The principal impact is on the Phase II processes. Most of them are captive—they take only their own waste and destroy it. A commercial operation, like Veolia’s, takes material from anywhere and destroys it.

“There’s always the possibility that a captive operation will decide that it is not worth it to comply, which would add additional hazardous waste to the market, causing an upward pressure on prices. There are only a few commercial incinerators operating, and most are already near capacity. Increased production will also lead to increased waste. Commercial facilities are in a good market position. The barriers to entry are high. Construction permits are difficult to obtain. In addition, it often takes five years to get the permits just to be in a position to start building. A lot can happen in the five to 10 years it would take to site and build a new commercial hazardous waste combustion unit.”

Turning Waste into a Resource

Turning Waste into a Resource

Facility Spotlight

Ethanol Recovery, Medina, OH Veolia ES Technical Solutions (VES-TS) has opened a new ethanol recovery facility in Medina, OH. Within just a few months the plant has been transformed from a dormant, non-operable site to a facility that is producing and selling ethanol. The former bank-owned equipment was purchased and remained on the property that VES-TS purchased from Univar. The Facility Manager is Heidi Dugan, who has 25 years of experience in the environmental services industry.

received in tanker trucks and stored in the on-site tank farm. The distillation equipment consists of a flash evaporator, which removes excess water and solids, distillation columns, and a molecular sieve.

The molecular sieve increases the ethanol concentration of the finished product from 190 to 200 proof (100% ethanol) by removing water. Medina’s ethanol is currently being sold to industrial end users and fuel blenders to replace and supplement gasoline. Most gasoline now contains at least 10% ethanol. E85 gasoline contains 85% ethanol and is available in most consumer markets.

“The facility start up was definitely streamlined by utilizing Veolia’s internal resources,” says Dugan. “All of the pieces fell into place much easier than with a typical start-up, and the challenges were more manageable. The Ohio Valley Branch and Corporate support services made significant contributions to Medina’s achievements.

We’ve had support with virtually all aspects of the start-up, including permitting, EH&S, operations, sales, and marketing. Our national sales force routinely manages waste streams that contain ethanol, and they were able to quickly bring the streams into Medina.

Secure Brand Destruction The facility also provides secure brand destruction services for industrial and consumer products. Secure destruction products include bulk liquids, consumer packaged goods, expired products, or products that cannot be sold for other reasons. The products are processed through equipment that destroys the packaging and collects the liquids. The liquids are transferred to the recovery process and the packaging materials are recycled. A state-of-the-art security camera system was installed throughout the facility to assure Veolia’s customers of brand protection. Anonymity is guaranteed throughout the process.

“We’ve had several Fortune 100 customers audit and approve the facility. Although Medina is not a hazardous waste facility, the audits were conducted with a similar level of scrutiny that customers use to approve hazardous waste facilities and we’ve passed every audit without a problem.”

The Medina facility offers two services: the production of ethanol via recovery and secure brand destruction.

Ethanol Production The primary sources for ethanol recovery streams are pharmaceutical and biotech companies, manufacturers of consumer healthcare and beauty products, alcoholic beverage distributors, and contact lens manufacturers. Most of the incoming loads are bulk liquids that are

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Capabilities The facility sits on 23 acres and accepts material in bulk tankers, rail cars, totes, cubic yard boxes, palletized consumer packaging and in drums. Containers are stored inside an on-site warehouse. When the plant reaches full permit capacity, it will produce 6,000,000 gallons of ethanol annually. There is additional equipment on-site awaiting construction to expand physical capacity.

The Medina facility offers services that create an environmentally sound use for otherwise non-useable waste streams, demonstrating Veolia’s commitment to sustainability and the conservation of valuable resources.