Park District of Forest Park, 2015
A commonly used cleaning solvent, Tetrachloroethylene known as PCE or perc was contained in soil onsite from past manufacturing operations at this location. The property located along the Eisenhower Interstate between Park District facilities and fields and the Ferrara Candy Company was vacant and could not be used for any purposes due to soil contamination. In 2013, an emergency demolition was performed on a building that was a safety hazard. A fence was installed to keep people out and the property lay unused and grew high weeds around piles of debris. Approximately 1,000 tons of soil contained concentrations of PCE so high that offsite treatment and disposal costs approach $600 per ton.
We worked with the owner, Park District of Forest Park and the environmental engineer, St John-Mittelhauser, to implement a cost saving approach that still successfully and legally removed and disposed of the impacted soil. Brevcon was contracted by the Park District to reduce the PCE concentrations to meet nonhazardous criteria and dispose offsite at permitted landfill. Our proprietary methods developed over the years on chemical oxidation projects successfully reduced the PCE concentrations to nonhazardous levels in three weeks. Subsequently the soil was disposed offsite and the site graded smooth and ready for future development all within a month. The work was performed for a 40% savings relative to the best hazardous disposal options.