On 19 December 2005 full-scale operations started to decontaminate and beneficially use contaminated dredged material from New York/New Jersey Harbor. Successful operation of the BioGenesis washing technology provides a new, cost-effective alternative to the vexing problem of how to manage harbor sediments polluted by decades of industrial and urban chemical waste and stormwater runoff.

About four million cubic yards of sediment must be dredged each year from the berths and navigation channels in and around the New York/New Jersey Harbor. Of this amount approximately half cannot be placed in the ocean because the sediment contains contamination at levels considered too high for sensitive marine environments. Ocean dumping of contaminated sediment was banned in 1997, and since then, the polluted sediments have been taken ashore and used in a variety of ways, including building golf courses and parking lots, and filling in abandoned mines. Those methods solved the immediate problem, but their limited capacity will not meet the continuing need for management options that extends to 2040 and beyond.

The washing technology uses sophisticated soaps, patented equipment, and 10,000 pounds per square inch water pressure to remove contaminants from sediments. The pollutants include PCBs, dioxins, heavy metals like mercury and arsenic, and petroleum related compounds.

Congress recognized the problem as early as 1992, providing funding to U.S. EPA to develop long term solutions. New Jersey voters approved a Dredging Bond Act in 1996 that provided funding to test sediment decontamination technologies on harbor sediments and hopefully bring operations to commercial viability. BioGenesis washing operations are a result of these efforts.

Eric Stern, U.S. EPA Regional Contaminated Sediment Program Manager stated, “BioGenesis operations are the result of coordinated Federal and State work for over a decade to find a way to treat and use contaminated harbor sediments. The current full-scale demonstration has national significance, and is a candidate for use on both federal and state Superfund sites such as the Lower Passaic River.

Full-scale demonstration operations will continue through March 2006.

Contact: Charles Wilde, 703-913-9700, cwilde@biogenesis.com  / www.biogenesis.com

back