The development of microwave technology to treat hazardous wastes has been in progress at NJIT for the past three years. The initial stages of this program have focused on determining the' breadth of hazardous waste problems that are amenable to microwave technology applications. Benchscale studies have shown the following processes are technically possible:

a. It is possible to steam strip organic volatiles from soil;

b. Volatiles can be destroyed by impact upon lossy so lids

c. Heavy metal ions can be immobilized in soil;

d. It is possible to regenerate GAC on-site.

e. It is possible to pyrolyze polyarmotic compounds in soil in-site, and, thereby, effect decontamination.

In this thesis, it has been shown that a relatively nonvolatile compound like naphthalene can be steam-stripped from soil; that the incident microwave energy penetrates the soil; that for volatile compounds are difficult to quantify effects; that in a comparison of microwave to incineration based upon economic and other considerations. It is concluded that microwave can play an potentially significant role in the clean up at contaminated soil.