Soil Remediation

Sea-Chem's unique products help to regenerate brownfield sites by accelerating the natural decomposition of hydrocarbon pollutants - such as oil and gas - within contaminated soils, a process known as bioremediation. Cost-effective and totally sustainable, our soil treatments have quickly become established as leaders within the brownfield industry.

Technical Information

We have put together the following guide to the practicalities of using the Synergistic System on contaminated soil projects. If you need any of these points elaborating on, contact us and we will gladly answer any questions.
 

Range of Contaminants

Our Synergistic System is effective against a wide range of hydrocarbon pollutants commonly found in soil, including:

• Aliphatic and aromatic compounds
• Fuel oils and crude oils
• Glycol and other solvents
• Certain halogenated compounds
• Alkanes up to C44H90
• Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

Furthermore because of the special strains of pseudomonas and anthrobacter within BioBoost bacteria, the system will also now treat benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes, the notoriously stubborn BTEX compounds.

Project Requirements

Sea-Chem will advise contractors on the volume of product required based on the nature of their project. However, as a guide, the follow should give some general idea of the volumes involved.

• Sea Power 101: 2L per cubic metre of soil to be treated
• BioBoost: 50g-150g (1 billion cfu/g) per cubic metre, depending upon the nature of the contaminants in the soil and the project's deadline

Application Methods

Our Synergistic System involves a single application of a pre-mixed solution of Sea Power 101. A typical application process is described below.

• Sea Power 101 is mixed at rate of 1:9 with cold water within an empty IBC, which when finished will treat 50 cubic metres of contaminated soil
• The prescribed quantity of BioBoost is then added, stirred and left to dwell for around an hour
• Contaminated soil is screened to remove rock and debris from the site
• Mixture of Sea Power 101 and BioBoost is then sprayed directly onto the screened material, with care taken to ensure even distribution (NB. most clients carry this out using a manual spray system, although some have developed techniques to utilise an automatic conveyor to improve efficiency)
• Treated soil is then placed into large windrows around 1m in height and left to attenuate naturally
• Some clients turn these windrows occassionally, usually ever 4 weeks, to allow air in to further accelerate the process
• Soil is tested and when considered safe either safely disposed of or backfilled

Please note that whilst the above description applies to a typical application of our Synergistic System, the products themselves are also compatible with almost all existing remediation methods and technologies, including direct surface application; in-situ injection (in sandy soils); and in-situ/ex-situ soil washing. Contact us for more details.

Financial Benefits

The Synergistic System allows bioremediation jobs to be carried out much more quickly than has previously been possible, which means that there are potentially huge operational savings to be had. Furthermore, using our products, full remediation and reuse of hazardous soil can be achieved for a fraction of the cost of diverting it to landfill. On very large jobs this saving can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Environmental and Operational Benefits

Compared to remediation technologies that utilise hazardous chemicals, such as hydrogen peroxide, Sea-Chem's products are entirely free of warning stickers. They are neither toxic nor flammable, which means there are many health and safety (as well as financial) benefits to storing and handling these on a project site. Furthermore, as the products are totally biodegradable and sustainably harvested, they are currently the most environmentally responsible choice available to brownfield contractors.

Material Safety Data Sheets