February 1997 marked the completion of eight years of federally-funded center activities. During this time, over 100 projects have been funded, with over 250 principal investigators and students working on these projects.
In March 1997 a peer review panel of environmental professionals reviewed the center’s renewal proposal, reports, publications, and other documents. At the conclusion of their site visit they prepared a report which included the following summary conclusions and recommendations:
"The Peer Review Panel’s opinion of the technical quality and management capabilities of the Great Plains/Rocky Mountain Hazardous Substance Research Center’s activities over the past eight years was very favorable. The Center’s research is considered to have made important contributions to the areas delineated in its proposals; productivity of most of its funded investigators is of high quality; the training and technical transfer program is effective; and the management of the Center is in the hands of a capable and dedicated Director and staff.
"The Panel considers the Center to have been an effective expenditure of EPA funds and the Panel strongly recommends EPA continued funding of the Center. In addition, the timing of such funding should be sensitive to the uninterrupted support of students on the various Center projects."
As a result of this favorable review, the center has received a three-year renewal award.
While it is very difficult to follow all of the positive impacts of the research, training, and technology transfer activities of the center, estimates show that cost savings due to technology innovation are more than ten dollars for each dollar expended through the center. After eight years of research through the center, utilization of vegetation in the remediation and/or stabilization of contaminated soil is becoming a widely used technology. The number of contractors that are actively incorporating vegetation into remediation processes is growing rapidly and the number of field sites where vegetation is part of the solution is increasing exponentially. Field studies often show cost savings of more than 60% compared to conventional pump-and-treat technology. This savings has caught the attention of those who are responsible for remediation within federal agencies and the private sector.
Research on the beneficial effects of vegetation in metals-contaminated soils and mine tailings has been applied at several field sites. The influence of mycorrhizal symbiosis on plant growth and heavy metal tolerance in mine tailings has been demonstrated and communicated. Laboratory and field research has demonstrated which soil amendments are essential to revegetate mine tailings because of the need to improve nutrient availability and water-holding capacity. Results have shown that concentrations of arsenic and cadmium in poplar tree leaves are below the level where they would be a health concern for deer and other animals. Vegetation reduces soil erosion and sediment transport to streams and rivers. Center investigators are providing information and advice to those who are revegetating heavy metal-contaminated sites. Vegetative stabilization is often the only cost-effective solution for large acreages of soils and mine tailings containing heavy metals.
Center investigators have developed new approaches to identify and select chelators for separating heavy metals from soil. Quantitative structure-activity relationships and molecular descriptors can be incorporated into models which allow computers to be used to help identify chelators. These concepts were presented at two workshops.
The comprehensive approach to process synthesis and design developed through the center has been incorporated into spreadsheet software by a commercial firm and is now available for implementation by those who do process synthesis for chemical process industries. This will lead to significant advances in pollution prevention, save design costs, and increase profitability.
Center investigators have demonstrated that Fenton reagent is effective for oxidation of a variety of contaminants including munitions compounds such as TNT. Recent work provides new information on the mechanisms of the oxidation process.
Several field projects conducted through the center have demonstrated that bioremediation occurs in the field as predicted by laboratory studies. Availability of oxygen has been shown to be an important consideration for contaminants which must be degraded aerobically. Further research is being conducted to develop cost-effective oxygen transfer technologies. Several companies have provided partial support for these field studies.
The Research and Re-education for Displaced Defense Personnel (R2D2) program was begun in 1995. The R2D2 program is national in scope, with all five centers receiving funding to involve former defense personnel in research programs working on center-funded research projects at center consortium universities. During its first year, this program enrolled more than 70 displaced Department of Defense employees at HSRC consortium universities. These students worked on projects to improve remediation technologies at defense sites. New technologies are now available for field application, and the graduates of the program are advancing to professional positions.
The Technical Outreach Services for Communities project continues to provide assistance to communities impacted by hazardous waste in EPA Regions VII and VIII. Patrick McDonald and Blase Leven provide leadership for this program. Recent projects include presentations and workshops for citizens in affected communities, and assistance to community groups in South Dakota, Montana, Kansas, Colorado, and Missouri. This program matches expertise of center professionals with needs of communities to provide customized education and assistance to community groups dealing with hazardous waste cleanups, permitting, and risk assessment issues.
The Native American and Other Minority Institutions (NAOMI) program has benefited over 60 minority academic institutions (MAIs). Faculty members and students from several MAIs—historically black universities, Native American universities, and predominantly Hispanic universities—have participated in the annual conference and/or the NAOMI Summer Cooperation Program. The NAOMI program has also produced or co-produced several video seminars and satellite-uplinked seminars.
A very important event this year was the 12th Annual Conference on Hazardous Waste Research, held in Kansas City, May 19-22, 1997. The conference and four workshops attracted approximately 250 participants and 110 papers. Conference topics included phytoremediation, metals-contaminated soil, remediation processes, biofilms, and barriers. The proceedings are being made available in print form and on the Internet at http://www.engg.ksu.edu/HSRC.
Amy Ryser, a high school student from Wamego, Kansas, was honored for her poster "Phytoremediation of Crude Oil-Contaminated Soil" at the 12th Annual Conference. Peter Kulakow, one of the center’s investigators, advised Amy in her research.
Louis Licht, University of Iowa bioremediation researcher and CEO of Ecolotree, Inc., was honored in 1996 for utilizing a poplar tree technology developed by Licht and Jerald Schnoor. The American Council of Engineering Consultants selected Ecolotree, Inc., for an Honor Award in the 1996 Engineering Excellence Awards competition for its role in the design, installation, and management of an innovative engineered plant system project for the Woodburn, Oregon, wastewater treatment plant. Poplar trees have been installed at over 30 sites in 11 states and Europe.
Kenneth Klabunde, distinguished professor of chemistry at Kansas State University and a center researcher since 1990, is behind a Manhattan, Kansas, business, Nantek, Inc., which will commercialize the destructive adsorbent technology which has been developed at the laboratory scale. Nantek was selected to receive one of the six 1997 Silicon Prairie Technology of the Year Awards.
A team of chemical engineering seniors under the direction of HSRC faculty designed a plant-based landfill leachate treatment process for Riley County, Kansas. Alfalfa has already been planted at the site and trees will be planted using cuttings from trees planted in 1997. Use of this innovative technology is expected to save Riley County several million dollars.
HazTech Transfer, the center’s quarterly newsletter, continues to be published and distributed to more than 4,000 individuals. Centerpoint and Newspoint, joint publications of the five centers, have continued to be published with responsibility for managing and editing of each issue revolving among the HSRCs. Earth Medicine, the newsletter of the NAOMI program, is published bi-monthly and distributed to minority academic institutions, center consortium universities, tribal offices, government agencies, and other interested individuals.
This year the center has added many pages on the World Wide Web. Center pages include a wealth of information about the center and its programs. Individuals all over the world can access the center’s Web pages and find copies of center publications, funded project descriptions, information about center personnel, and general information about the center. The center’s home page can be accessed at http://www.engg.ksu.edu/HSRC. There is also a home page for the national HSRC program and information on the four other centers. The Magellan Internet Guide recently gave the HSRC Web site a rating of three out of a possible four stars. The center’s Internet site has approximately 10,000 hits per month; about 15% of these are from outside the United States.
As shown by the listing of theses and dissertations in the bibliography, many students have helped with center projects while conducting research required for their advanced degrees. Many of these graduates now have important positions with contractors, industry, government, and universities. Their movement from the university to their places of employment has resulted in technology transfer which has enhanced innovation.
The center repository continues to be a resource for researchers nationwide. Publications that result from funded center projects are placed in the repository at Kansas State University’s Hale Library and are available through interlibrary loan. Current holdings stand at about 1,100 items.
The Great Plains/Rocky Mountain Hazardous Substance Research Center, the National Mine Land Reclamation Center, and the Waste-management Education and Research Consortium have initiated a cooperative effort to address the following environmental research and technology transfer needs associated with mining and mine lands: 1) national environmental leadership in research and technology transfer; 2) research to develop innovative technologies to reclaim and restore mine lands and recover minerals from mine spoil; 3) professional support on scientific issues to bring good science into decision making; 4) advanced degree graduates with environmental expertise in mine land reclamation and resource recovery; and 5) environmental expertise to support mining and mineral processing industries with special consideration for small-scale operators.