PROJECT A-3

In Situ Sub-Surface Soil and Groundwater Treatment
Junior High School, Norwell, MA

Pictured above is the temporary tank which treated the groundwater from the boiler room sump. Excess water was treated by draining the water through the two 55 gallon carbon drums.

The system was set up and operational in two days. Water from the tank, treated with microbes, was circulated under the boiler room floor.

PROBLEM:
Soil under boiler room floor is saturated with oil

On July 3, 1997, oil was discovered leaking from a gauge in front of the boiler at the Henry Goldman School in Norwell, Massachusetts. The oil had leaked through the floor around the foundation of the boiler. When a sump pump failed during a heavy rainstorm, oil floated up through the floor, covering the floor with oil. It was determined that oil had saturated the soil under the boiler room floor.

SOLUTION:
Use MicroSorb® SC and MicroSorb® ER to clean up concrete, spill, contaminated soil and water

The town hired an environmental consultant who used only $300 of MicroSorb® SC (Super Concentrate) and MicroSorb® ER (Emergency Response) to clean up the concrete, the spill, and the contaminated soil and groundwater! Although the treated water met discharge permit requirements, the water was drained through the two small carbon drums and discharged to a swamp.

The biotreatment system was set up and operational in two days. The discharge from the sump pump was connected to a temporary above-ground tank using flexible hose. When the tank was full, oil was floating on the surface of the water. Three pounds of MicroSorb® SC (Super Concentrate), which contains 142 billion oil-eating microbes per ounce, was added to the tank. Air from the boiler room air compressor was also piped into the bottom of the tank.

RESULTS:
Save town $150,000; school opens on schedule

In two days the free product was bioremediated. The average concentration of petroleum in the water in the tank prior to treatment was 750 ppm. The average concentration of petroleum in the water after treatment was 4ppm. The treated water was circulated under the floor of the boiler room and the contaminated soil and groundwater were bioremediated in six months without excavation. The school was opened as scheduled in September! The town of Norwell estimated that they saved $150,000 using bioremediation instead of removing the concrete floor and excavating the contaminated site.

 

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