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Official: Byproduct disposal going well

Tuesday, November 25, 2003

PENNSVILLE TWP. -- The shipment of neutralized mustard agent to DuPont Chambers Works here for disposal has been going flawlessly, according to plant manager John Strait.

In May 2002, DuPont signed a contract with Bechtel National to truck and treat the neutralized byproduct from Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. The neutralization began in April of 2002 and the first shipment was made to Chambers Works on June 17, 2002.

The mustard agent is first destroyed by neutralization at the Aberdeen Chemical Agent Disposal Facility. The waste byproduct of the neutralization process, which is over 90 percent water, will be then taken in 5,000-gallon tanker trucks to Chambers Works where it will undergo biotreatment.

The waste byproduct, called hydrolysate, will be treated by DuPont Secure Environmental Treatment at Chambers Works. The hydrolysate is exactly 92 percent water, 7 percent thidiglycol and 1 percent salts, metals and organic compounds.

The hydrolysate poses very little threat to the public, said officials. But because there are trace amounts of volatile organic compounds in the neutralized byproduct, the trucks that are carrying it must bear hazardous materials placards.

The hydrolysate is being transported one truck at a time, according to Strait. He added that the current plan is to receive all of the waste by next spring.

The shipments were stopped for about two months earlier this year, said Strait, so that officials could find a quicker way to unload the byproduct.

Even with that two months, they are still two years ahead of schedule, said DuPont spokeswoman Michelle Reardon.

DuPont is the largest commercial and industrial wastewater treatment facility in the United States and processes more than 18 million gallons of wastewater daily.

Mustard agent has been stored at Aberdeen for more than 60 years. The U.S. military manufactured a stockpile of the chemical weapons for World War II in case the Germans reintroduced mustard agents in that conflict. They didn't and the U.S. stockpile of the weapons remained intact at several locations throughout the country, including Aberdeen.

The treatment of the mustard agent was originally scheduled for 2004 but the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. prompted the U.S. Army to ask Bechtel to accelerate the neutralization.