Granite City, Illinois
Client:
Archer Daniels Midland Company
Terra Technologies was retained by Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) to properly remove three underground process flow-through tanks from the former ADM Soybean processing facility located in Granite City, Illinois.
Three underground process flow-through tanks were previously used to store hexane. Hexane is a solvent commonly used in the extraction of food oils. Two 20,000-gallon tanks were reportedly installed around 1973 and a 40,000-gallon tank was installed in 1975. The tanks were taken out of service 1988 and the remaining hexane was properly removed from the tanks the following year.
In accordance with the Office of the State Fire Marshall, flow-through process tanks are not considered an underground storage tank or UST system. Therefore, the tanks were considered non-regulated. However, proper tank removal procedures were followed including confirmatory soil sampling and closure report preparation to ADM for documentation purposes.
A track excavator was used to excavate around the tanks in order to be able to lift or drag the tanks from the tank pit excavation. Due to its extreme weight, an additional track excavator and a 35-ton crane were needed to pull the 40,000-gallon tank.
The atmosphere inside the tanks was monitored for oxygen gas and lower explosive limit (LEL) prior to removal and cleaning activities. An eductor and air compressor were used to vent the tanks prior to tank removal and cleaning activities for health and safety purposes. Eighteen 55-gallon drums of sludge material were removed from the three tanks. Post excavation confirmatory soil sampling of the walls and base of the excavation indicated that hexane was not detected above the laboratory detection limit. The former 20,000-gallon tanks were able to be loaded onto trucks for recycling/scrap, but the former 40,000-gallon tank was cut up using a torch into manageable pieces for recycling. |
