November
12,
2003
TO:
Lyn
Luben,
EPA
FROM:
Jason
Price,
and
Katherine
Wallace
SUBJECT:
Discussion
with
Fred
Sigg
at
Von
Roll
WTI
On
September
10,
2003,
IEc
staff
spoke
with
Fred
Sigg
of
the
Von
Roll
WTI
commercial
incineration
facility
for
a
second
time
with
the
purpose
of
confirming
characteristics
of
the
current
hazardous
waste
combustion
universe
and
inputs
for
the
economic
model.
The
following
is
a
summary
of
Mr.
Sigg's
key
comments,
separated
out
by
topic.

1.
Incineration
of
Non­
Hazardous
Waste

Mr.
Sigg
stated
that
incinerators
continue
to
burn
non­
hazardous,
off­
specification
products
(
e.
g.,
pharmaceuticals).
He
said
that
the
percentage
of
non­
hazardous
waste
out
of
total
waste
that
is
combusted
varies
from
facility
to
facility.
Approximately
ten
percent
of
waste
that
Von
Roll
WTI
combusts
is
non­
hazardous.
He
does
not
expect
that
the
current
percentage
of
non­
hazardous
waste
that
is
combusted
at
hazardous
waste
incinerators
would
be
significantly
different
from
the
Hazardous
Waste
Treatment
Council's
estimated
percentage
of
15
to
30
percent.

2.
Presence
of
Solids
in
Hazardous
Waste
Fuels

Although
Mr.
Sigg
works
at
a
commercial
incineration
facility
and
consequently
does
not
have
direct
experience
with
hazardous
waste
fuels,
he
estimated
that
the
percentage
of
suspended
solids
in
hazardous
waste
that
is
combusted
as
fuel
to
power
other
production
processes
has
continued
to
increase
in
recent
years.
He
was
unable
to
provide
an
absolute
percentage,
but
he
believed
that
hazardous
waste
fuels
currently
contain
over
20
to
25
percent
suspended
solids
as
a
result
of
improvements
in
fuel
blending
technologies.

3.
Fuel
Blenders

Mr.
Sigg
believed
that
there
has
been
a
slight
reduction
in
the
number
of
operating
fuel
blenders
since
the
late
1990s
due
to
competition
and
poor
economic
conditions.

4.
Pricing

Mr.
Sigg
estimated
that
cement
kilns
receive
between
$
0.01
to
$
0.20
per
pound
of
hazardous
waste.
He
estimated
that
cement
kilns
receive
$
0.05
per
pound
for
halogenated
liquid
wastes
and
$
0.01
per
pound
for
non­
halogenated
wastes.


Mr.
Sigg
estimated
that
hazardous
waste
combustion
facilities
receive
between
$
1.00
and
$
3.00
per
pound
to
combust
explosives,
totaling
up
to
$
6,000
per
ton.
He
stated
that
these
price
estimates
could
be
higher
or
lower,
depending
on
the
form
of
the
explosives
and
how
they
are
processed.
He
added
that
there
are
not
many
facilities
with
the
capacity
to
combust
explosives.

5.
Distribution
of
Hazardous
Waste
at
Multi­
System
Facilities

At
hazardous
waste
combustion
facilities
with
multiple
systems,
Mr.
Sigg
stated
that
waste
may
not
be
distributed
among
systems
in
proportion
to
the
relative
capacity
of
the
systems.
For
example,
a
facility
with
two
systems
where
one
system
accounts
for
70
percent
of
the
facility's
capacity
and
the
second
system
accounts
for
30
percent
of
the
facility's
capacity
does
not
necessarily
send
70
percent
of
its
waste
to
the
first
system
and
30
percent
of
its
waste
to
the
second
system.
Instead,
all
waste
would
first
be
sent
to
one
system,
and
if
possible
the
second
system
would
not
be
operated
at
all.


Mr.
Sigg
emphasized
the
distinction
between
practical
and
permitted
capacity.
At
his
facility,
the
permitted
capacity
is
90,000
tons
while
the
practical
capacity
is
60,000
tons.
