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Tag: Dredging Operations Technical Support
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  • ERDC scientists assist USACE New Orleans District with turbidity assessment at Bayou Rigaud

    Scientists from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center Environmental Laboratory (ERDC-EL) recently assisted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) New Orleans District in measuring the turbidity near a dredging operation in the Bayou Rigaud Federal Navigation Channel.
  • Environmental Applications of 3D Printing Polymer Composites for Dredging Operations

    Abstract: This Dredging Operations Environmental Research (DOER) technical note disseminates novel methods to monitor and reduce contaminant mobility and bioavailability in water, sediments, and soils. These method advancements are enabled by additive manufacturing (i.e., three-dimensional [3D] printing) to deploy and retrieve materials that adsorb contaminants that are traditionally applied as unbound powders. Examples of sorbents added as amendments for remediation of contaminated sediments include activated carbon, biochar, biopolymers, zeolite, and sand caps. Figure 1 provides examples of sorbent and photocatalytic particles successfully compounded and 3D printed using polylactic acid as a binder. Additional adsorptive materials may be applicable and photocatalytic materials (Friedmann et al. 2019) may be applied to degrade contaminants of concern into less hazardous forms. This technical note further describes opportunities for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) project managers and the water and sediment resource management community to apply 3D printing of polymers containing adsorptive filler materials as a prototyping tool and as an on-site, on-demand manufacturing capability to remediate and monitor contaminants in the environment. This research was funded by DOER project 19-13, titled “3D Printed Design for Remediation and Monitoring of Dredged Material.”
  • ERDC researcher impacts international contaminated sediment standards

    When Dr. Burton Suedel, a research biologist with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Environmental Laboratory (ERDC-EL), heard about the ASTM International project to develop a guide for risk-based corrective action for contaminated sediment sites, he saw it as an opportunity for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to inform international contaminated sediment standards and policy.