Acceptable approaches for beneficial use of cement kiln dust

One beneficial use of cement kiln dust (CKD) is application of CKD to cropland as agricultural lime or fertilizer. However, the EPA has expressed a concern over land application of CKD when the metals constituents in the CKD are above the industry-wide median levels presented in EPA`s Report to Congress on Cement Kiln Dust. Under the Clean Water Act, EPA has established limits for metals concentrations in sewage sludge that is applied to the land for beneficial use of the nitrogen in the sludge. The limits for land application of sewage sludge were established based on the results of exposure risk assessments. A comparison of the median industry-wide metals concentrations in CKD to the metals concentration limits for land application of sewage sludge indicates that all trace metal concentrations IN CKD are below the corresponding sewage sludge land application limit, with the exception of the median level of arsenic from one data set. EPA has determined that land application of CKD with metals concentration limits at or below the industry-wide median concentrations does not pose a significant human cancer or non-cancer health risk. Therefore, with appropriate limits, CKD can be beneficially reused for land application on agricultural land in amore » manner that is protective of human health and the environment.« less