Fast Creosote Bioremediation Results

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Fast creosote bioremediation was recently demonstrated by a user of a custom blend of CL Solutions organisms.  The environmental consulting firm applied the microbes to finely shredded wood that had been saturated with creosote.  The initial testing results after bioaugmentation showed a reduction of the creosote concentration by  57% in just 7 days.  The concentration measured as total recoverable hydrocarbons decreased from 3,453 mg/kg to 1,497 mg/kg.

Oil-Contaminated Water Treatment

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CL Solutions provides a special consortium of microbes for oil-contaminated water treatment.   Under various conditions, the oil removal rate was as much as 1,300 mg/L/day.  In some situations the remediation goal is simply to remove the visible sheen or separate-phase oil.  With aeration, CL Solutions microbes were able to remove the visible oil layer and reduce the TPH concentration from 29% to less than 1% in 30 days at a waste oil lagoon. For more information and other case studies click here.

A special consortium of microbes removed the visible oil layer from this wastewater.

Improving Long-Term Bioremediation Results with Nutrients

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The goal of bioaugmentation is to improve the rate of contaminant removal by adding a high population of beneficial microbes to the contaminated media.  The additional microbes  should provide short-term benefit as the microbes begin metabolizing the contaminants immediately upon injection. But what benefit does bioaugmentation provide in the long term? And how much benefit does bioaugmentation provide over biostimulation by adding nutrients to the native organisms?

A client of CL Solutions completed a bench-scale study to answer these questions.  A bench-scale study was preferred to a field study because it removes the potential distribution and time-lag issues associated with the distances between injection and monitoring locations in the field.

Samples of petroleum-contaminated soils were obtained and separated into split samples for treatment with microbes and nutrients. Some were untreated for comparison.  Samples were tested for petroleum concentrations, including C-fraction concentrations after 30, 40 and 60 days.  Heterotrophic populations were measured at 40 and 60 days.

The tests showed the following results in the early stages:

  • All of the treated samples showed more than 80% total petroleum reduction in the first 30 days.
  • The sample treated with nutrients only had the same level of petroleum removal as the bioaugmented samples in the first 30 days.
  • The heterotrophic population of the biostimulated sample was as high as in the bioaugmented samples at 40 days.

After 30 days the situation changed.

  • The bioaugmented microbial population continued to increase  after 40 days and may have increased by a factor of 100 times.  Meanwhile, the biostimulated population appeared to stall.
  • The petroleum removal continued in the bioaugmented samples and reached as high as 93% removal.  In comparison the biostimulated sample stalled at 82% removal.
  • The difference appears to be that the bioaugmented samples removed the C-21 to C-35 concentrations at a much higher rate than the biostimulated sample.
  • Phenanthrene was target chemical for bioremediation. The biostimulated sample showed 39% removal while the bioaugmented samples showed complete removal to BDL.

Overall, the superior performance of the bioaugmented samples appears to be related to having a greater metabolic range that removed the heavier hydrocarbon fractions.  Microbes with the extended metabolic range could continue to multiply as they grew on the heavy hydrocarbon fraction.  The results are consistent with field results showing the recalcitrance of heavier hydrocarbon fractions and compounds like naphthalene and phenanthrene under natural attenuation.

Contact CL Solutions for more information and insights.

 

 

 

 

 

Benzo(a)pyrene Bioremediation Using Custom Blend Microbes

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Benzo(a)pyrene is a difficult remediation challenge. It is resistant to biological and chemical destruction and extraction from soil.  CL Solutions Custom Blend microbes, however, have successfully remediated benzo(a)pyrene and other PAHs in soil during ex situ land farming treatment.  By placing the contaminated  material in windrows, controlling the temperature and moisture, the addition of Custom Blend microbes has reduced the benzo(a)pyrene concentration by as much as 330 ug/kg/day.

The same approach works on high as well as low concentrations.  At a site in Oregon, the benzo(a)pyrene concentration was reduced from 140 ug/Kg to below detection limits in 7 days.  At a site in Ohio, the benzo(a)pyrene concentration was reduced from 28,000 ug/kg to 3.8 ug/Kg in 60 days.  At both sites, Custom Blend microbes effectively treated the full suite of PAHs along with the benzo(a)pyrene.

PAH Bioremediation

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The results of a recent bench-scale test confirmed the effectiveness of a special blend of CL Solutions’ microbes formulated for PAH bioremediation.  The test results showed that after two weeks, the total concentration of 15 PAH compounds decreased by 85% from a total of 358 mg/kg to 50.9 mg/kg.  Benzo(A)pyrene is often a most difficult PAH to remove. The test showed that the custom blend reduced the benzo(A)pyrene concentration from 24.5 mg/kg to 3.68 mg/kg.  Tests will continue to determine whether even greater effectiveness can be achieved over 30 days.