By JEFF MONTGOMERY / The News Journal
03/02/2005

DuPont Co. said Tuesday it has been successful in capturing or eliminating 95 percent to 99 percent of two potentially harmful compounds in a chemical weapon disposal byproduct the company wants to treat in its New Jersey plant and discharge into the Delaware River.

The Army wants to send DuPont as much as 4 million gallons of caustic wastewater from a Newport, Ind., site, where 1,269 tons of the deadly nerve agent VX would be neutralized starting this spring. Officials are awaiting a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before deciding if DuPont is eligible to take the wastewater.

Last year, Delaware challenged the proposal, raising concerns about two phosphorus-based chemicals DuPont acknowledged would pass largely untreated into the river from its plant in Deepwater.

"That really served as the catalyst for the technology," said Anthony Farina, a DuPont spokesman. "We heard the message loud and clear. We rolled up our sleeves and got to work."

At issue are levels of ethyl methylphosphonic acid (EMPA) and methlyphosphonic acid (MPA), two leftovers from VX neutralization. Delaware's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control said discharges of the compounds might approach levels that could cause problems for aquatic life, although DuPont disputed that view.

Rick Green, a DNREC scientist who last year issued a report critical of DuPont's plan, said the new approach could be "potentially a good thing." Delaware officials have yet to receive the document.

"There are lots of reviews that need to occur before I'm willing to say anything except: "Yes, there's a new report,'" said Kevin Donnelly, DNREC water resources director.

State officials also raised concerns about other potentially toxic metals found at low levels in the discharge, as well as trace levels of intact VX and total discharges of phosphorus, an element that can contribute to oxygen-depleting algal blooms.

Todd Owens, an engineer at DuPont's Secure Environmental Treatment Unit, said company researchers found they could remove nearly all of the EMPA and MPA from the waste by changing one chemical used in the original plan, and by adding a second compound that would cause most of the phosphonates to collect as solids at the bottom of a treatment tank.

Those solids - about 290 tons a month - would go to DuPont's hazardous-waste landfill. Levels of phosphonates in the plant's discharge would drop from 55 parts per million to less than one part per million. Subsequent mixing with Chambers Works cooling water would cut even that level in half.

"We will not go forward if we can't take the phosphonates out," Owens said. "It just makes sense."

Other applications eyed

DuPont Chemical Solutions Enterprise Vice President Nick C. Fanandakis said the company is considering "a number of broad applications" for the new process, potentially including removal of phosphonates associated with pesticides, pharmaceutical products and herbicides in wastewater.

"The concerns of local regulatory authorities and community must be thoroughly addressed and DuPont must be satisfied that the work can be completed safely and without adversely impacting the environment before we would agree to participate in the Army's project," Fanandakis said.

Neutralization may start in April

Army Chemical Materials Agency spokesman Jeff Lindblad said Tuesday that his agency had just received DuPont's plan.

Lindblad said the Army already has approved Newport's neutralization plan, tentatively set to begin in April or May. Congress must receive notice of the neutralization work 30 days before startup.

Army officials previously have said they plan to start the VX destruction at a slow pace, with wastewater stored in mobile tanks at Newport pending approval of DuPont's plan or another storage or disposal method.

Federal officials also are exploring an overhaul of the nationwide chemical weapon disposal plan, with an interim report due by March 21. Options could include moving chemical weapons stores to locations with approved or operating disposal plans, in order to ensure completion of the more than $25 billion chore by 2012.

DuPont statements last year indicated that the company expected to make $13.5 million annually over the life of the two- to three-year disposal contract.

Owens said DuPont had received some payment from the Army during studies leading up to its proposed treatment revision. The payments were arranged because Army rules required the company to become a contractor in exchange for taking samples of VX wastewater for disposal tests.

Contact Jeff Montgomery at 678-4277 or jmontgomery@delawareonline.com.