Smelting is a process of applying heat to an ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a chemical- reducing agent to decompose the ore, driving off other elements as gases or slag and leaving the metal base behind. The reducing agent is commonly a fossil fuel source of carbon, such as coke—or, in earlier times, charcoal. The oxygen in the ore binds to carbon at high temperatures as the chemical potential energy of the bonds in carbon dioxide is lower than the bonds in the ore.
Laurence Harbor is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located on the Raritan Bay within Old Bridge Township, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the CDP's population was 6,635, an increase of 99 (+1.5%) from the 6,536 recorded at the 2010 census, which in turn had reflected an increase of 309 (+5.0%) from the 6,227 counted at the 2000 census.
ASARCO is a mining, smelting, and refining company based in Tucson, Arizona, which mines and processes primarily copper. The company has been a subsidiary of Grupo México since 1999.
The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles (72 km) long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the suburban area outside New York City just west of the lower Hudson River, which it roughly parallels, separated from it by the New Jersey Palisades. It also flows through and drains the New Jersey Meadowlands. The lower river, which is navigable as far as the city of Hackensack, is heavily industrialized and forms a commercial extension of Newark Bay.
Berry's Creek is a tributary of the Hackensack River in the New Jersey Meadowlands in Bergen County, New Jersey. The creek watershed contains a diverse array of wetlands, marshes, and wildlife. The creek runs through a densely populated region and has been subject to extensive industrial pollution during the 19th and 20th centuries. Several companies discharged toxic chemicals into the creek in the 20th century, and these chemicals have remained in the sediment. The creek has the highest concentrations of methyl mercury of any fresh-water sediment in the world. Portions of the creek watershed are Superfund sites and cleanup projects began in the late 20th century.
The Edison Wetlands Association was founded by noted activist Robert Spiegel in 1989 as a nonprofit environmental organization devoted to the cleanup of hazardous waste sites and the preservation of open space in densely populated central New Jersey.
Imperial Oil is a current Superfund site located off Orchard Place near Route 79 in Morganville, Marlboro Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey. This site is one of 114 Superfund sites in New Jersey. It is in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2 Superfund area of control and organization. The 15-acre (61,000 m2) Imperial Oil Co./Champion Chemicals site consisted of six production, storage, and maintenance buildings and 56 above-ground storage tanks.
The Eagle Mine is an abandoned mine near the abandoned town of Gilman and about one mile south east of Minturn in the U.S. state of Colorado.
Plants for the production of lead are generally referred to as lead smelters. Primary lead production begins with sintering. Concentrated lead ore is fed into a sintering machine with iron, silica, limestone fluxes, coke, soda ash, pyrite, zinc, caustics or pollution control particulates. Smelting uses suitable reducing substances that will combine with those oxidizing elements to free the metal. Reduction is the final, high-temperature step in smelting. It is here that the oxide becomes the elemental metal. A reducing environment pulls the final oxygen atoms from the raw metal.
The Koppers Co., Inc. (KCI) Superfund Site is one of three Superfund sites in Oroville, California, along with Louisiana Pacific Sawmill and Western Pacific Railyard. The KCI Superfund Site is a 200-acre site which served as a wood treatment plant for 50 years. Wood was treated with many chemicals to prevent wood deterioration. The accumulation of these chemicals from spills, fires, and uses has caused this site to be contaminated with the hazardous waste material. Due to soil and groundwater contamination, the site was placed on the National Priorities List in 1984 for remedial action plans to clean up the site to protect surrounding residential areas concerning environmental and human health risks.
Silver Bow Creek is a 26-mile-long (42 km) headwater stream of the Clark Fork (river) originating within the city limits of Butte, Montana, from the confluence of Little Basin and Blacktail Creeks. A former northern tributary, Yankee Doodle Creek, no longer flows directly into Silver Bow Creek as it is now captured by the Berkeley Pit. Silver Bow Creek flows northwest and north through a high mountain valley, passing east of Anaconda, Montana, where it becomes the Clark Fork at the confluence with Warm Springs Creek.
The California Gulch site consists of approximately 18 square miles in Lake County, Colorado. The area includes the city of Leadville, parts of the Leadville Historic Mining District and a section of the Arkansas River from the confluence of California Gulch downstream to the confluence of Two-Bit Gulch. The site was listed as a Superfund site in 1983.
Kauffman & Minteer Inc. (K&M) was an industrial transportation company that operated from 1960 to 1981 in Burlington County, New Jersey. After cleaning their trucks, they dumped the waste water into a nearby lagoon that was not properly lined. The lagoon flooded and the waste water containing chemicals, migrated over to wetlands, causing damage to vegetation and seeping into underground drinking water. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) got involved in 1989 and conducted a few remediation attempts but the extent of the damage is hard to determine as the different underground pathways of water are unpredictable. The site is currently an active superfund site that is closely monitored by the EPA.
The Rockaway Borough Well Field is a Superfund site that came into place in 1981 after the soil was suspected of being contaminated with toxic chemicals. The site is located in Rockaway, Morris County, New Jersey. It was first found to be an official Superfund site after it was discovered that tetrachloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE) were contaminating the soil. Studies suspected that the chemicals were coming from the area of two companies in the town of Rockaway. In 1985, the residents of Rockaway were advised not to drink the tap water and the National Guard had to come and supply water supplies for the community. The town soon installed a water filter system in order to try to reduce the amount of pollution in the water. After finding that the system was not effective, the NJDEP came to the scene to investigate the soil. NJDEP found that the soil tested positive with chemicals and from there the EPA were contacted. The EPA found chemicals in different areas of the borough and found that the soil was contaminated and began to install a groundwater treatment system that functioned to purify the ground of chemicals. The system was soon pumping up to 900,000 gallons of water from the boroughs wells. Today, the pump is still functioning and has since reduced the amount of chemicals and the chance of pollution in the water to appear again. The final project to completely purify the water is still in production.
The Horseshoe Road Complex Superfund Site in Sayreville, New Jersey is a 12-acre property located near the Raritan River. The industrial site has been out of operation since the early 1980s after a fire revealed 70 drums containing silver cyanide, ethyl acetate, and acetonitrile. The drums caught the attention of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and by 1995 the Horseshoe Road Complex was on the National Priorities List. The site had three areas consisting of the Atlantic Development Corporation (ADC), Horseshoe Road Drum Dump, and Sayreville Pesticide Dump. The neighboring Atlantic Resources Corporation, the location for precious metal recovery, is addressed with the Horseshoe Road Complex (HRC) site due to the intermixing of chemical contamination. The on-site contamination is not an immediate threat to the surrounding community, although prolonged or repeated exposure to the site itself, will result in health effects. The HRC Superfund site is now in its final steps of cleanup in accordance to the EPA's plan.
Brook Industrial Park (BIP) is an industrial area occupying 4.5 acres of the Borough of Bound Brook, New Jersey, in the United States of America. It is located on the northern bank of the Raritan River. Industrial, chemical and pesticide operations began in 1971 and eventually lead to the contamination of groundwater and exposure of workers to harmful dioxins. Throughout 1980 to 1988 the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) conducted studies to determine if there were any threats being posed on the workers, community or environment by the BIP companies in their disposal of processed and stored chemicals.
Price Landfill is a 26-acre site located in Pleasantville, Egg Harbor Township, Atlantic County, New Jersey. Price Landfill is also known as Price Sanitary Landfill, Prices Pit, Price Landfill No.1 and Price Chemical Dump. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) added Price Landfill to the Superfund National Priorities List on September 20, 1983 because of the hazardous chemicals found on the site and in the groundwater. The site was originally owned by Mr. Charles Price and was used to mine sand and gravel, which was shut down in 1968. The site was then turned into a private landfill in 1969 and then a commercial solid waste landfill in 1971. At this point the landfill was used to dispose of liquid waste by companies, specifically Atlantic City Electric Company. The liquid waste consisted of industrial chemicals, oils and greases/sludges, septic tank and sewer wastes, which were disposed on the site for 8 years, ending altogether in 1976, but in the meantime, having contaminated the groundwater, soil, air, and nearby creeks, specifically Absecon Creek. Chemicals dumped on the site are believed to be 1,2-Dichloroethane, arsenic, benzene, chloroform, lead, and vinyl chloride, all of which contaminated the groundwater, soil, air, and nearby creeks. The USEPA originally got involved in 1982 by beginning to correct the damage. Currently the USEPA states that they are continuing to monitor and treat the groundwater and land, and that hazards to humans are controlled.
The Pohatcong Valley Groundwater Contamination superfund site is located in Warren County, Franklin Township, Washington Township, and Washington Borough in New Jersey. It was recognized in the 1970s but not designated into the National Priorities List until 1989. It is a contamination of the Kittany Limestone Aquifer underlying the Pohatcong Valley. This toxic site stretches across 9,800 acres of land. The chemicals that are polluting the groundwater and soil are trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE). If someone were to be exposed to these harmful toxins for a short amount of time it can result in unconsciousness. Long term effects unfortunately include liver and kidney problems. The plans to clean up this superfund site are costing the companies involved, Pechiney Public Packaging Inc., Bristol Meyers Squibb Company, Albea Americas Inc, and Citigroup Inc, about $92 million, and the situation still has not been completely resolved.
Adams Plating, also known as Adam's Plating, is a 1-acre (0.40-hectare) Superfund site in Lansing Charter Township near Lansing, Michigan.
The Garfield Groundwater Contamination site is a Superfund site located in Garfield, New Jersey. The site was formally occupied by E.C Electroplating, an electroplating company that used chromic acid solution in their products. In 1983, a tank at the E.C Electroplating property malfunctioned and spilled chromic acid into the groundwater underneath the property that subsequently spread to the surrounding area. The contamination presented a health risk to Garfield residents in the area due to exposure to hexavalent chromium, a toxic form of chromium. The site was designated a Superfund site in 2011. Cleanup of the site is ongoing as of 2022.
