Q. What is the definitive procedure/test for whether a waste contains a liquid when determining D001 waste code? Must generators use the Pressure Filtration Test to determine if the waste produces a Liquid that might have a flashpoint < 140°F?
|
A. Hazardous waste generators are not required by the federal regulations or by the EPA to use, as you refer to it, the “Pressure Filtration Test” (i.e. the test from the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) known as the “Method 1311 pressure filtration technique”) to determine if the generated solid waste produces a liquid that has a flashpoint of < 140°F. As you correctly note, a liquid solid waste with this flashpoint would be a waste that exhibits the characteristic of ignitability and that has the EPA Hazardous Waste Number of D001.
The Paint Filter Liquids Test (Method 9095B in EPA Publication SW-846) is commonly used by generators to determine the presence of free liquids in a representative sample of a waste. In 1993 the EPA proposed to revise EPA Publication SW-846 to replace the Paint Filter Liquids Test with Method 1311 test as the EPA-recommended test for determining free liquid. However, the EPA never finalized that proposal and EPA Publication SW-846 still cites the Paint Filter Liquid Test as the one to use.
Yet, according to the EPA on January 13, 1995 (and not retracted since) the Method 1311 pressure filtration technique appears to be the test that EPA prefers be used, especially in instances when Method 9095 does not yield a free liquid phase:
“The definitive procedure for determining if a waste contains a liquid for the purposes of the ignitability and corrosivity characteristics is the pressure filtration technique specified in Method 1311. However, if one obtains a free liquid phase using Method 9095, then that liquid may instead be used for purposes of determining ignitability and corrosivity. However, wastes that do not yield a free liquid phase using Method 9095 should then be assessed for the presence of an ignitable or corrosive liquid using the pressure filtration technique specified in Method 1311.”
It would be correct to conclude that this EPA language is conflicting as to which methodology to use. The more conservative approach would be to use the pressure filtration technique.