PCB Update

Southern Belle

TCI's facility in Pell City, Alabama

by Guy Crittenden
FACILITY TOUR NOTE: With the Canadian borders open to PCB export, </I> Hazardous Materials Management <I>magazine has committed to serve the needs of its readers by conducting actual site visits of the major PCB treatment facilities in Canada and the United States and reporting observations. This column is designed to provide readers with a first hand look at the facilities, and is not an endorsement of any particular operation. -- ed.

Upon arrival at the Trans- Cycle Industries, Inc. (TCI) facility in Pell City, Alabama, one is impressed by the clean state of the surroundings and the neatly-graded site itself. The front office building is attached directly to the processing plant, with a separation room for workers to change into protective clothing and footwear. The offices and testing lab are efficiently organized, with staff busy at computers processing manifests, paperwork, and samples from shipments, including many from Canada. The attached processing plant is divided into two separate parts: the "under 500" ppm plant and the "over 500" ppm plant.

In the "under 500 ppm" plant, incoming loads of tranformers and other contaminated equipment are segregated in temporary staging areas neatly delineated by highly-visible floor markings. All items are barcoded, sample tested, tracked, and processed within 24 to 48 hours from the time of arrival. Transformers are moved to a special work area where they are carefully opened and their liquid contents are pumped into the appropriate tank in a small indoor tank farm which has more-than-adequate secondary containment. Differently- sized hose couplings ensure that liquids containing certain PCB concentrations are pumped only to the correct tank.

 Low- level PCB oils are permitted for use in the plant boiler; higher strength PCB liquids are drummed for shipment to a TOSCA- approved incinerator in Port Arthur, Texas. The drained equipment is then taken dismantled and the components washed in a recirculating solvent system to below 10 micrograms per square centimetre. The "under 500 ppm" also has a small, permitted high- temperature transformer furnace. The recovered metals (steel, copper, aluminum, etc.) are separated and sent directly to smelters for recycling. The entire plant floor is underlain by a synthetic liner which rises about one foot above the floor surface on all sides. Work area floors are covered with 3/4 inch diamond- cut steel plate. The floors of the entire plant are graded so that even the most catastrophic spill would not escape the plant walls.


Editor-in-Chief Guy Crittenden (centre) with TCI Vice President of Marketing and New Business Development Steve Lauterback (left) and Vice President of Operations Dick Wendt (right) who noted that 107 employees work in three shifts, 24 hours per day, and participate in profit sharing, advanced safety training and quality management programs.

The "over 500 ppm" plant is also underlain by a synthetic liner, but this plant has the added protection of 3/4 inch diamond- cut steel plate covering not only its floors, but also the walls and ceiling. 		All surfaces are routinely inspected, cleaned and repaired as needed. As one of the few facilities permitted to handle over 500 ppm material in the United States, it receives shipments from all over the world, including overseas U.S. army bases. The heart of this operation is a huge vapor degreaser unit, four storeys tall and 12 by 15 feet in width. The proprietary solvent is recirculated through special filtration equipment which removes contaminants. Again, the washed parts are sent directly to smelters for recycling. When clean, larger metal parts can be cut up by a 60 tonne truck-mounted shear. Radiator fins are cut open so that interior surfaces can be wipe-tested.

The TCI facility has never had an EPA violation or notice of violation. Officials say the company saves customers money by reducing the volume of material sent for final destruction, and by recovering revenue from recyclable metals. I was impressed with the fact that TCI cleans all the metals to below 10 microns, even though U.S. law would allow up to 100 microns. Indeed, the washed metals have no oily residue and are very "dry to the touch." (Paint on the solvent- cleansed transformers was so dried-out it fell off in sheets.) I suggest that Canadian PCB owners who are concerned about exporting PCB wastes and equipment to the United States would find a tour of TCI's Pell City plant very reassuring.


Guy Crittenden is editor-in-chief of Hazardous Material Management magazine. Contact him at http://www.hazmatmag.com
comment@hazmatmag.com or via phone (905) 305-6155.

Tour TCI Services References Interact Guide Home

To report any problems with this site contact: TCI Webmaster

This article is re-printed, with permission, from the June/July 1997 issue of
Hazardous Material Management magazine.