Keep the Home Fires Burning
PCB incinerator in Kirkland Lake?
by Charlie Angus
HighGrader Magazine November/December 1999
Trans Cycle Industries are not the only PCB-handling company interested in Kirkland Lake. Bennett Environmental, a company specializing in the incineration of PCB-contaminated soil, is looking at moving into Ontario and Kirkland Lake's Adams Mine is in the running as a possible location.
Bennett Environmental is currently looking to build a PCB incinerator with the capacity to treat 100,000 tonnes of contaminated waste a year.
John Bennett is the CEO of Bennett Environmental. He says his company was recently invited to visit Kirkland Lake by the Town Council. "I was looking at the Adams Mine site. It's a nice site but I would prefer something closer to Toronto because all the dirty dirt is in the south."
Bennett Environmental uses a rotary kiln to heat contaminated soils to 850 degrees centigrade. This burns off the organics and the dirt is left clean. The process then takes the gases to an after-burner which raises the temperature to over 1,000 degrees.
Bennett, a former chief chemical engineer with Monsanto U.K., is proud of the incineration process his company uses. "What comes out of the stack is cleaner than the air around you."
Bennett says the dust from the process is captured in baghouses and then sent to a landfill.
In fact, says Bennett, the soil can be a beneficial addition to any dump.
While Bennett is quick to distance himself from the Kirkland Lake option ("I wouldn't want to start any rumours") he does admit that it would be pretty convenient to have an incinerator right beside a massive landfill like the one projected for the Adams Mine.
"Normally a landfill has to buy cover but we just give it to them. The soil is alkaline and acts to neutralize the acid in the dumps. It would be very useful for covering the garbage in the project to (ship) from Toronto to Kirkland Lake. If that project goes ahead and we were on the same site, they could use our dirt to cover their garbage."
As well, wouldn't it be convenient to be close to a major PCB recycling facility that needs to ship its contaminants out for incineration?
Bennett says that although the technology could be used to destroy other forms of PCBs such as concentrates, the company, at-present is only licensed for soils.
But TCI lawyer Michael Zarin says Bennett has wanted to talk.
"They've contacted us but we made it clear that we have no intention of doing incineration in Kirkland Lake."
Zarin does say, however, that even though his company is satisfied with sending the concentrates to Swan Hill "we're always looking at alternative destinations."
Stay tuned, dear readers, stay tuned.

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