Indiana Harbor Environmental Dredging

Tornado Motion Technologies’ (Now EDDY Pump Corporation) Tornado 1 dredge, outfitted with an 8-inch EDDY Pump successfully completed an environmental dredging test for the US Army Corps of Engineers. The test was performed to collect information and to evaluate possibilities for dredging of the Indiana Harbor Ship Canal, beginning in 2005. The canal has accumulated 4.6 million cubic yards of toxic sediment, which must be removed and treated before being placed in a landfill. The sediments are contaminated with volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, plus PCB’s. Use of the EDDY Pump offers the advantages of:

• Not disturbing and/or contaminating the surrounding environment.
• The ability to pump high solids content, thus reducing the amount of water to be handled and treated.
• Decreasing the time to dry the sediments.
• Speeding up the dredging process.

About 7,300 cubic yards of material were removed during the test at pumping rates of 2,000 gallon per minute. Contaminated sediments were pumped to a temporary holding facility for de-watering and storage. During the test the Tornado 1 operated effectively and achieved sustained solid content readings of 30% to 70%.

Conclusions:

• EDDY Pump technology is very effective in reducing pumped contaminated water quantities.
• Solids contents from 30% to 70% are achievable on a sustained basis for dredging operations.
• TMT achieved low turbidity and little agitation of sediments during operations.