Elcon Recycling submits second phase of facility application to Pennsylvania DEP

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has received the Phase II portion of Elcon Recycling Services LLC’s application for a commercial hazardous waste treatment and storage facility to be built in Falls Township, Pennsylvania. The DEP says Elcon’s Phase I portion of the application was found to be in conformance with the exclusionary siting criteria regulations on Nov.12, 2015.

The proposed location is on 22 acres of land that used to be the home of US Steel Fairless Works. The location is zoned for industrial operations and is one of 12 Keystone Opportunity Improvement Zones in the state.

Elcon is seeking a Solid Waste Management Permit for a commercial hazardous waste treatment facility. The company proposes to treat liquid hazardous and non-hazardous waste from a variety of industries such as electronics and semiconductor, pharmaceutical, chemical and metals processing industries.

The company’s operations will include the storage of hazardous and non-hazardous wastewater in tanks and containers prior to treatment. Various treatment technologies, including physical/chemical pretreatment, distillation, crystallization, evaporation and biological treatment, will be used to remove solids, salts and organics from the wastewater. Heat energy from the organics is recovered for use in the process. Proposed emission control technologies include a thermal oxidation unit, scrubber, selective non-catalytic reduction and dust collectors.

Dried sludge residue and salts will be taken offsite for disposal. No process wastewater discharge is proposed.

The Pennsylvania DEP has 90 days to determine if the application is considered administratively complete. The initial review is done to determine if the material submitted is sufficient and complete so that the technical review may commence. If the application is incomplete, it will be returned with a letter citing deficiencies. The applicant may resubmit the application, restarting the 90-day administrative review process. If the application is deemed administratively complete, it will undergo a technical review. It is during the technical review that full details of the proposed operations and design will be evaluated.

 “Our review of any material submitted by Elcon will be rigorous and thorough, and we intend to be transparent in all aspects of our review,” says Acting DEP Southeast Regional Director Anderson Hartzell.

To view a factsheet on Elcon’s proposed facility, click here.