The vagueness of Metal Hydroxide Sludge
Posted on Tue, Sep 08, 2009 @ 03:31 PM
By Marissa Palisoul, Technical Services Representative
Metal Hydroxide Sludge refers to F006 material. But what is it? How do I characterize it? What exactly is Metal Hydroxide? Metal Hydroxide is the term used to describe the heavy metals that precipitate out of the waste water into any solid, semi-solid or liquid waste. Historically, electroplating used cadmium, chromium, nickel and cyanides in the process. What does this mean to me? It means that if you ship metal hydroxide sludge, you will likely classify it as “hazardous waste liquid, n.o.s. (metal hydroxide) 9, NA3082, PGIII”. This would carry the F006 EPA waste code. Although the F006 designation for listed waste is all encompassing and assumes the typical metals from the electroplating process for storage and shipping, it does not exempt you from designating which metals might be present for the final disposal/treatment purposes. Be sure to list any or all of the following materials as an Underlying Hazardous Constituent on your Land Disposal Restriction. Lead, nickel, silver, cadmium, chromium and cyanides, might be present, and without analytical to prove they are not there in regulated amounts, they are considered a UHC.