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MARCOR Wins Technology Merit Award for Lead Recovery System
Successfully deploys cost-effective pneumatic separation units to recover lead at firing ranges
4/8/2009–HUNT VALLEY, MD–Environmental Business Journal, a leading business newsletter for the environmental industry, awarded MARCOR Remediation, Inc. (MARCOR) the prestigious technology merit award (waste management and pollution control category) for its latest, patented pneumatic separation unit, or PSU2, used to extract lead-containing bullet fragments from shredded rubber backstop media at gun ranges. The unit cost-effectively recovers the hazardous bullet fragments, allowing the rubber backstop media to be reused and the high-clarity recovered lead to be sold for recycling.
MARCOR’s PSU2 dramatically reduces hazardous waste disposal costs and other expenses associated with the management of lead bullets. Many firing ranges use the rubber backstops to catch spent bullets, prevent ricochets, and reduce the fragmenting of bullets into lead dust, but the accumulated bullet fragments must be removed periodically. Using a vacuum truck to provide suction and filtration, the PSU2 efficiently separates the fragments from the backstop material and neatly deposits clean bullets fragments into an EPA-approved container.
Typically, range personnel manually separated the spent bullets from the shredded rubber in a time-consuming and labor-intensive process, or they disposed of the combined rubber and bullets together and replaced the backstop media. This was costly, time consuming, and required temporary closure of the range. The PSU2 facilitates lead recovery at a fraction of the time, effort, and expense. (An earlier model, the original PSU, separates bullet fragments from soil and is named in the EPA’s Best Management Practices for Lead at Outdoor Firing Ranges.)
In 2008, MARCOR successfully deployed the PSU2 system at the Sacramento Sheriff Office’s firing range, at three California Highway Patrol firing ranges, and at firing ranges operated by the Philadelphia Police Department. For additional information about these and other projects, please feel free to contact MARCOR Director of R&D Ron Acee, who was instrumental in developing the PSU technologies. He can be reached at 443-506-4535.
MARCOR and winners in other business achievement categories were recognized at the 2009 Environmental Industry Summit, February 18-20, 2009, in Coronado, California. The full list of award recipients can be found online at www.environmentalbusinessjournal.com.
A specialty contracting company founded in 1980 and headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, MARCOR Remediation is now an affiliate of Nuprecon/CST. The combined entity has in excess of 1,500 employees in more than 20 offices. MARCOR’s significant presence and resources in the Northeast United States complement the strong West Coast and Southeast presence of Nuprecon/CST, giving the company a national footprint with a comprehensive offering of demolition, abatement, and remediation services. For additional information, go to www.marcor.com or call the corporate headquarters at 800-547-0128.
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