Commercialization of Dredged-Material Decontamination Technologies

This article describe a unique federal project aimed at the commercialization of different technologies for the decontamination of dredged material. The project is organized so that commercialization is achieved in a seamless way, starting with validation at the bench‐ and pilot‐scale levels, and ending with the actual construction of operational facilities. This is the first integrated sediment decontamination program in which a step‐wise bench‐scale validation process of innovative/emerging technologies will scale‐up to a production‐scale facility capable of processing up to 375,000 m3 of dredged material per year. The need to develop public‐private partnerships for the facility construction is emphasized as a way of obtaining adequate finding for capital and operating costs during the startup time of the commercialization process. It is expected that the end result of the project work will be the creation of economically‐viable, self‐sustaining decontamination technology companies.