Villawood remediation project

When Orica Australia needed to complete the remediation of its 12 hectare site located in Villawood, NSW, it engaged environmental consultants Enviropacific. The site was previously part of a larger site owned by the Australian Government and used for manufacturing of munitions, including TNT. Later still, the site had been used for the manufacture and handling of a wide range of pharmaceutical and agricultural chemicals.

Concentrations of a number of scheduled chemical wastes (SCW) at the site are above that at which direct disposal off-site is allowed under the Scheduled Chemical Waste Chemical Control Order (2004), necessitating treatment of the impacted soil prior to re-use at the site. Following assessment of remediation technology options, direct thermal desorption (DTD) was chosen as the most suitable to treat the impacted soil.

Enviropacific was engaged to design, construct and commission a 15 TPH DTD unit as well as operate the feed soil building (FSB) and emissions control systems. The scope of work included civil works plus installation of air, water and noise monitoring programs, the design, construction and operation of a wastewater treatment system, and excavation of approx 23,000 tonnes of impacted soil. The company has also been tasked with treating ~45,000 tonnes of SCW-impacted soil by DTD; backfilling and reinstatement of the site with treated soil; and validation, demolition of redundant structures and demobilisation.

Enviropacific’s thermal remediation team will draw on internal and external thermal experience to complete the Villawood Remediation Project. Although planning works have been ongoing for some months, site works, scheduled to commence this January, will not be completed until June 2014.

Chapman Services at Missouri, USA, has been commissioned to construct the DTD unit.