Stabilization of hazardous waste landfill leachate treatment residue

Hazardous organic wastes lend themselves primarily to destructive treatment by processes such as incineration, biodegradation, chemical oxidation, and dechlorination. When these methods are feasible, all the problems associated with long-term effects are eliminated; thus, they are high on everyone's list of preferred treatment methods. However, many industrial wastes and contaminated materials contain small amounts of toxic organics at levels which make organic destruction processes not only very expensive, but sometimes ineffective. It seems likely now that the EPA intends to establish organic levels at which stabilization can be used in soil remediation and, perhaps at RCRA central treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDFs). Also, in the case of “characteristic” wastes, the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) test when fully in force, will make it possible to remove wastes from the RCRA hazardous waste system if they meet both inorganic and organic leaching limits. While a number of vendors of stabilization services are offering organic “stabilization,” very little data has been forthcoming at least publicly. The present paper focusses on dilute aqueous hazardous waste streams treatment.