Abstract: A metal pile has a splayable fluted bottom portion, the perimeter of which is greater than the nominal perimeter of the pile. A fluted expansion cone is located in the interior of the pile and is connected to the splayable fluted bottom portion. The flutes of the bottom portion, as well as of the expansion cone, desirably have exterior and interior edges which are substantially straight and sides portions therebetween which are substantially planar. The expansion cone generally has an acute apex angle. Once the pile is in place in the earth, the splayable flutes bottom portion can be horizontally expanded to a much larger diameter by applying a force to the top of the expansion cone which flattens the cone and imparts a horizontal expansion force and causes the fluted bottom portion of the pile to splay. When the diameter of the bottom portion of the pile has been increased, the pile will have significantly improved load bearing capacity and thus reducing the depth of penetration otherwise normally required.

Abstract: A method for removing the excess sodium and byproducts of reaction which occur during the destruction of PCBs from oil. A predetermined quantity of water is mixed with the decontaminated oil and the byproducts, which include sodium chloride and polyphenyl polymer, to form sodium chloride and sodium hydroxide. Centrifuging removes most of the oil from the remaining aqueous mixture which then is agitated and treated with carbon dioxide gas to form less hazardous sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. Any excess carbon dioxide gas is vented to the atmosphere and the sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate is collected into containers for disposal. Small amounts of oil remaining in the aqueous waste mixture that is discharged from the centrifuge is decanted from the remaining material in a waste separator due to its lighter specific gravity. A pump intermittently injects waste from the waste separator into a converter where it reacts with the carbon dioxide gas.

Abstract: A system and apparatus therefor for the removal and destruction of harmful toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from a fluid, such as electrical transformer oil. The contaminated fluid is pumped through heating equipment to raise its temperature to a predetermined level prior to it being fed into a mixing chamber. An injector mechanism feeds a predetermined quantity of a reagent, such as an elemental sodium dispersion, into the mixing chamber where a power-driven impeller thoroughly mixes the two fluids. This mixture is fed into a reaction zone, preferably consisting of a plurality of closely nested back-and-forth tubes of a predetermined length and cross-sectional area wherein a chemical reaction occurs between the PCB-fluid and reagent forming harmless by-products which are insoluable in the now decontaminated fluid. The solid by-products are removed in a separator, such as a filtering medium or centrifuge, and any gases and water vapor are removed in a deep vacuum degasser.