The York Center for Environmental Engineering and Science (YCEES) is home for many of New Jersey Institute of Technology's (NJIT) environmental centers, programs and initiatives. The centers are housed in NJIT's $11 million Otto H. York Center for Environmental Engineering and Science, the first building in the nation especially constructed for cooperative public and private research in hazardous waste management. With its $2.4 million in equipment, it is a state-of-the-art laboratory facility.
Nationally the Center for Environmental Engineering and Science known for its research centers and affiliated programs such as the:

Internationally, the YCEES is involved in collaborative research and technical assistance projects. Formal research initiatives are underway with counterpart academic-industrial centers in:

HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE MANAGEMENT RESEARCH CENTER

The Hazardous Substance Management Research Center (HSMRC) at NJIT has a threefold mission of research, service and technology transfer. Through its industry-university collaborative research, HSMRC advances the state-of-the-art in engineering management of hazardous waste. The work of the Center expands present knowledge and application of effective, environmentally acceptable, and economically feasible hazardous waste treatment and remediation technologies.
HSMRC was established in 1984 as a National Science Foundation Industry/ University Cooperative Research Center. The consortium of five academic institutions, headquartered at NJIT, involves NJIT, Princeton University, Rutgers University, Stevens Institute of Technology, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. It became a part of the Advanced Technology Center program of the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology. The Center, its affiliates, and industrial sponsors form the largest university-based hazardous waste management research program in the nation.
HSMRC research and technology:

SMRC's research program operates through several focus areas, each with different research objectives and advisory committees. These are:

NORTHEAST HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE RESEARCH CENTER (NHSRC)

The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) authorized the USEPA to establish five university-based research centers. This recognized the fact that current scientific knowledge and existing science-based technologies were inadequate to fully address the identification, remediation, and management of hazardous substances. The NHSRC conducts research and training related to the manufacture, use, transportation, disposal and management of hazardous substances.

New Jersey Institute of Technology, in a consortium with Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tufts University, was awarded the center to serve the Northeast regions. This center was established in February 1989, as the "Northeast Hazardous Substance Research Center" (NHSRC). It also includes Princeton University, Rutgers University, Stevens Institute of Technology, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Baseline funding from USEPA has been augmented with collatoral funding from USEPA program offices as well as supplemental funding from USDOE, and USDoD to support specific targeted research projects and two closely related initiatives: technical assistance for Brownfield Redevelopment Projects and Technical Outreach Services for Communities Program. In the fall of 2001, NJIT's regional emphasis was redirected to Region 2, as it became part of a new HSRC headed by Johns-Hopkins University.

The Northeast is unique in its combination of age, industrial activity, population density, economic activity, concentration of chemical and pharmaceutical industries, and rapidly developing "high tech" industries. Former waste handling and disposal practices created many sites that have been identified and placed on the National Priorities List. Remediation of these sites is difficult and costly; approximately 75% have groundwater contamination. Treatment, storage and disposal facility capacity in the Northeast is insufficient. Improved technologies for pretreatment of industrial wastes are needed. These needs provide the stimulus for the Center's research focus.

The needs of the Northeast call for an increased focus on training and technology transfer as they relate to the Center's research agenda, as well as to the expanding scientific and engineering activities in the hazardous waste field. This Center focuses its efforts on activities that advance the state-of-the-art and do not overlap/duplicate ongoing activities, particularly USEPA and State training or technology transfer programs. NHSRC is guided by a Science Advisory Committee (SAC), and a Training and Technology Transfer Advisory Committee (TTAC).

The Center's research programs focus on development and demonstration of treatment/remediation technologies in three broad areas:

This NHSRC is the only one of the original five USEPA HSRCs that has focused on incineration research and this area is considered a major thrust of the Center. The SAC has strongly urged the need for in-situ remediation technologies, while recognizing that sites will continue to be remediated using biological/chemical/ physical technologies for removal and treatment. Hence, the development and demonstration of in-situ remediation technologies, including innovative site characterization and monitoring technologies, is the other major research thrust of NHSRC.

Researchers are required to pay special attention to inter-media effects, such as impacts on air quality as a result of in-situ biotreatment of contaminated soils. Hazardous substance treatment technologies that address both treatment of industrial wastes and wastes at contaminated sites are encouraged. These include incineration, separation, stabilization, and biotreatment.

Brownfields Outreach

Abandoned and underutilized industrial sites in urban areas are often referred to as Brownfields. Left unaddressed, these sites continue to deteriorate resulting in a worsening of environmental problems and weaker or lost economic potential. These sites are contaminated or perceived to be contaminated and are often shunned by prospective developers.

The YCEES carries out a number of initiatives aimed at assisting communities in the redevelopment of these sites:

Technical Outreach Services for Communities (TOSC)

The NHSRC has been funded by USEPA to conduct a TOSC program to help communities in the Northeast address hazardous substance problems. The program provides the technical advice and guidance to assist the participatory community in better understanding the problems caused by contamination and the cost-effective means of restoring their environment and neighborhoods. Specifically, the program provides for:

The program supplements USEPA's Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) program to assist communities to understand the information that will allow them to make rational decisions about hazardous substances and the impact of contaminated sites in their communities.

SUSTAINABLE GREEN MANUFACTURING

The United States Army through the National Defense Center for Environmental Excellence in Johnstown, Pennsylvania (NDCEE) awarded the YCEES a research contract that has been focused on developing and implementing Sustainable Green Manufacturing initiatives in Army and USDoD defense systems design, manufacture and use. The program has total annual funding of $5 million for the four R&D partners: NJIT, NDCEE, the Industrial Ecology Center at Picatinny Arsenal, and New Mexico State University. The scope of the work includes activities addressing:

CENTER FOR AIRBORNE ORGANICS

The USEPA has established a Center of Excellence for Exploratory Environmental Research in which the problem of deteriorating ambient air quality, particularly in our urban areas, is coming under significant research scrutiny in order to establish the scientific basis for corrective actions. NJIT has joined with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and California Institute of Technology to form the Center for Airborne Organics and became operational July, 1992. This Center focuses its research on the transformation, transport and control of airborne organic compounds and particulates. The goal of the Center is to provide USEPA, industry, and the states the necessary tools needed to reliably connect the identities and concentrations of airborne organic compounds with major anthropogenic pollutant emission sources.

NEW JERSEY TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (NJTAP) FOR INDUSTRIALPOLLUTION PREVENTION

NJTAP has gained visibility and credibility with industry as an extension service that

Since its inception, NJTAP has performed more than three hundred site visits. A library of greater than 2,000 articles and reports in approximately 70 sub-categories of pollution prevention has been developed, and a collection of more than 50 source reduction-related videotapes is available to the public.
Alliances were formed with sewerage authorities such as the Bergen County Utilities Authority and the Linden-Roselle Sewerage Authority for the development of curricula to train Publicly Owned Treatment Works personnel in pollution prevention techniques. In addition, NJTAP personnel have worked with industrial pretreatment coordinators in an effort to educate businesses about pollution prevention and its relation to industrial pretreatment. Another notable alliance was formed with the Burlington County Freeholders. This program identified, recruited, and educated small quantity generators of hazardous waste in the county.

SEDIMENT AND DREDGED MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE (SDMTI)

Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University joined to create a research consortium known as the Sediment and Dredged Materials Technology Institute (SDMTI) to: conduct studies to facilitate development and implementation of sediment and dredged material technologies and management strategies; provide technical support and advice; conduct public outreach and education programs; foster collaborations with industry, government, the private sector and public interest groups for the development of cooperative solutions to dredging issues; and to serve as a clearing-house of information concerning dredged sediment and materials technologies and management.
The problem of contaminated sediment in the New York/New Jersey Harbor and environs has grown to enormous proportions. Concerns over the environmental impact of contaminated sediments have paralyzed dredging. As a result, harbor operations were severely threatened by the inability to maintain adequate depths in shipping lanes and berthing areas. The impact on the region is significant; the port industry is directly responsible for 166,500 jobs and more than $20 billion in regional sales. The problem is long term with anticipated 5 million cubic yards of dredged material requiring environmentally sound disposal or treatment annually.

The three institutions joined a Multi-State Alliance with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Brookhaven National Laboratory to assist the USEPA and Corps of Engineers in demonstrating and developing a treatment train for processing contaminated sediments dredged from the New York/New Jersey Harbor. Removal and decontamination of these sediments is essential to keep the shipping channels and ports open.
In addition, YCEES worked with the Port Authority to select a Demonstration Test Site in Port Newark for the evaluation of technologies to treat these contaminated sediments. These sediments are contaminated with a range of organic and inorganic contaminants. Working jointly with Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Multi-State Alliance of Universities, NJIT was responsible for managing the technical activities of vendors at this site.

NEW JERSEY SUSTAINABLE STATE INSTITUTE

The New Jersey Sustainable State Institute (NJSSI) has been established by the State of New Jersey and will be operated by a partnership of New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rutgers University, and New Jersey Future, to help New Jersey achieve long-term economic, social and environmental prosperity, otherwise known as sustainable development.

A "Sustainable State" is one that:

The NJSSI will provide a home for the New Jersey Sustainable State Goals, Indicators, and (once they are created) Benchmarks. The NJSSI will partner with government, business and non-profit organizations to convene an open, representative and high-profile public process to produce a set of goals, indicators and targets that describe and track progress toward a "Sustainable State." Its mission will be achieved by:

INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES

On May 29, 1997, NJDEP Commissioner Robert C. Shinn, Jr., signed an agreement establishing the Center for Environmental Technology Transfer and Development (CETTAD) in Thailand with satellite operations headquartered in New Jersey at NJIT. CETTAD will function as the mechanism for collaboration between U.S. and Thai industry, academia and government to: promote the demonstration of innovative environmental technologies; exchange technical services; and provide environmental education and training activities. CETTAD should provide a vehicle for export of innovative US-based environmental technologies and services to Southeast Asia.

RE.CO.R.D. (Reseau Cooperatif de Recherche sur les Dechets) is the Industry/University Cooperative Research Center in France addressing issues of industrial waste. The Center, which was established with participation from HSMRC and the National Science Foundation, has collaborated with YCEES in the area of design and use of biological reactors for removal of heavy metals, engineering and microbiological aspects of in-situ bioremediation, solidification, and stabilization. Opportunities for student and faculty exchanges, as well as international dialogue between member companies, have been developed.

The QUESTOR Centre is an industry/university cooperative research center located at Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. QUESTOR was initiated with assistance by HSMRC and the National Science Foundation and collaborative research has been conducted in the area of water treatment using novel peat-based adsorbents, and flocculative water cleaning.

MATERIALS CHARACTERIZATION

In addition to the research conducted at YCEES, the facility houses the latest analytical capabilities through the Environmental Analytical Laboratory, GeoEnvironmental Laboratory, and the new Keck Laboratory that is focused on microscopic analysis including transmission electron microscopy.

TECHNOLOGIES

YCEES is also involved in bringing new technologies to market. Over the past 15 years technologies have included: Pneumatic Fracturing (Commercialized); Fly Ash in Concrete and Membrane Separation (Nearing Commercialization); NOx Treatment (Pilot Scale); Several Remediation Techniques; Diesel exhaust particulate removal; Biofiltration; and Bioremediation of Gas Plant Sites. Many of these technologies are now available for licensing.

We would be pleased to talk to you about participation in any of these opportunities.

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