A ton of toxic waste is far worse than a pound—except when it comes to devising treatments for the stuff. “Bitter experience has shown that you cannot learn enough from a beakerful to determine what treatment to use,” explains Glenn Paulson. Paulson directs the Chicago-based Center for Hazardous Waste Management. The EPA has just granted the center a unique permit to accept and store up to 16.5 tons of contaminated substances. The hope is that the center, a joint venture of lIT Research Institute and the Illinois Institute of Technology, can use the material to find a solution to the nation’s pressing hazardous wastes problem. In fact, one of the center’s first clients could be the EPA. “If the facility was fully utilized, it could probably speed clean-up of 30 to 50 Superfund sites a year,” says Paulson.
Scientists at the Institute of Gas Technology in Chicago have taken a ...
