How Bioremediation Companies Clean Up Pollution Sites

By Karina Frost

Environmental destruction and habitat degradation is one of the most urgent issues confronting human civilization today. More than a century of unregulated industrial practices left many areas of the world with regions seriously affected by residual toxins that harm both people and ecosystems. Corporations regularly using and producing similar materials today increasingly rely on bioremediation companies when restoration is required.

Unless a spectacular oil spill at sea occurs, the general public is not always aware of those efforts. Not limited to bodies of water, the process is also commonly used to restore polluted sites above and below ground, and is widely used by transportation and aircraft companies, marine equipment manufacturers, and the food industry. New and more stringent pollution regulations as well as employee health and security concerns encourage its development.

The remediation process uses naturally occurring microorganisms to destroy pollutants by consuming them, leaving behind benign compounds. These creatures thrive on environmental toxins such as petrochemicals, and can transform them into substances including water and carbon dioxide, both necessary for life. While this also occurs naturally, without assistance it takes years rather than months.

In order to speed that process in groundwater or soil that does not contain enough living microbes to do the job effectively without an assist, the numbers of those creatures can be enhanced by adding them directly to a site. This population explosion can be encouraged by enhancing the conditions that ensure rapid growth, including the temperatures and nutrients that are known to promote bacterial health and reproduction.

The amendments added to land-based pollution sites also encourage the microbes that are already usually present in small quantities. Ranging from molasses and vegetable oil to specific chemicals known to aid oxygen production, they can be effectively placed via well bores rather than surface excavations. While amendments alone do little to remove existing toxins, they provide food and a biological bootstrap to existing bacteria.

If topography or regional climate makes those additions impractical, there are alternate solutions. Soils can be removed, cleaned up, and returned to their original site. In some cases this is accomplished by carefully excavating polluted topsoil, placing it on specially designed platforms or putting it into tanks, and then adding controlled amounts of amendment. Mixing and heating then makes it possible for the microbes to do their job quickly.

The time-frame for restoration varies because all sites are unique, having varying depths of groundwater involvement, levels of toxins, and numbers of helpful microorganisms already present in the soil. Although there have been famously disastrous consequences of introducing non-native plants or animals to ecosystems, adding substantial quantities of bacteria poses little threat. After consuming a food source, they simply die.

The surrounding communities also benefit greatly from less disruption due to increased heavy truck use, the noise and visual results of above-ground excavations, and the work that must be done to restore the scars in the landscape. In many cases the affected land can be restored to nearly pristine conditions. Using biological processes is less costly, leaves behind no additional pollution, and has a proven track record of success.

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