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BIO-REMEDIATION - The Natural Way
- Recent research by
Carl Potter of the EPA has found that
composting significantly reduces
polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons
found in creosote. BioCycle
September, 1995.
- Compost is valuable
as pollution prevention tool from
storm water treatment to global
warming (methane contributes to
global warming 400X more than CO2).
BioCycle 1995 Washington D.C.,
Rosalie Green, PhD, EPA
- Compost encourages
the growth of many types of bacteria
that have the ability to help
detoxify many types of pesticides,
simply by using them as food. High
humus levels are the most important
property facilitating pesticide
degradation.
- "Evaluating the
Suitability of MSW Compost as Soil
Amendment in Field Grown Tomatoes,
Part B: Elemental Analysis",
D.E. Stilwell, Compost Science &
Utilization, 1(3):66-72
(1993)
- Statistical analysis
showed that plants grown in soils
amended with compost had fruits with
higher concentrations of sodium (Na)
and Potassium (P) and concentrations
of beryllium (Be) and cadmium (Cd)
decreased.
- Another service of
compost is in neutralizing toxins in
the soil. The organic acids produced
from compost have the ability to bind
metals such as aluminum (highly toxic
to plants and prevents the absorption
of phosphorus) into stable compounds.
Thus the aluminum is "locked
up" in a stable complex, unable
to harm plants. Composting, Rodale
Press, 1992.
- The toxicity of plant poisons (high salt
concentrations, heavy metals, etc.)
become less severe in a soil high in
humus (compost). Humus: Origin,
Chemical Composition, and Importance
in Nature, Dr. Selman A. Waksman
- Hazardous chemicals
such as carbofuran insecticide
(carbamate family) and simazine
herbicide (triazine family) were
added to compost piles. Tests showed
that 100% of the carbofuran was
degraded and 98.6% of the simazine
was degraded after only 50 days of
composting. Department of Health
Services, California, October 1988.
- Compost has been
used to help cleanup toxic wastes and
chemical spills. Bioremediation of
soil contaminated with diesel, JP-4,
and motor gasoline at a site
Fairbanks, Alaska) were treated with
sewage sludge and composted. Within
70 days some toxins were below
measurement limits and others
significantly reduced.
"Treatment of Fuel Product
Contaminated Soil in a Cold Climate
Using Composting Technology"; T.
J. Simpkin, D. Walter, J. Doesburg,
June 1992.
- Composting destroys
allelopathic chemicals from trees
such as cedars, junipers, walnuts,
eucalyptus, etc. International Plant
Propagators Society, 1992.
- Numerous recent
research has shown compost very
effective at preventing erosion. This
usually occurs at lower cost and
without the pollution of traditional
or conventual approaches. The
International Erosion Control Society
at its 1994 conference in the USA had
many papers on the use of compost for
flood control, watershed management,
sediment control, revegatation and
Xeriscape technology.
- Research has found
that biodegradation of PCB and TCB,
and BaP (PAH) with compost is a
function of time with a 40% reduction
of these chemicals in 4 months.
Compost Science & Utilization,
Winter 1995.
- The White Rot Fungus that decomposes dead
wood (into compost) also has the
ability to clean up (digest)
chemicals such as: pentachlorophenol
(a wood preservative more toxic than
CCA), dioxins, cyanides, DDT, TNT
(explosive), creosote, and coal tar.
Other toxic chemicals being tested
are Lindane and Toxaphene. After
treatment it was found that 90% of
the toxin was destroyed within 60
days. Organic Gardening, August 94.
- Research at Rutgers
University (Ilya Raskin - New
Brunswick) has found a species of
Indian Mustard plant, is particularly
adept at soaking up lead, cadmium,
chromium, nickel, zinc, and copper.
Rates were measured at 1 ton of lead
per acre and a cost of $60-100K/acre
to a depth of 20 inches vs $400K for
disposal or other cleanups. Wall Street Journal
- Research has found degradation of explosive propellants
by composting. Propellants (WC860 and
H5010) contain nitrocellulose,
nitroglycerin, dibutylphtalate,
calcium carbonate, dinitrotolulene,
diphenylamine, potassium nitrate,
sodium sulfate, graphite, tin
dioxide. For WC860 a 83% decrease in
only 8 weeks was found and H5010 a
decease of 65% in 6-8 weeks were
found. BioCycle, September 1995.
- Scientists at Department of Energy's Pacific
Northwest Laboratory in conjunction
with the USDA have found that used
vegetable oil (fry potatoes, etc. at
restaurants) is an inexpensive way to
stimulate microbes to eat toxic
contaminants in water. Laboratory
experiments have shown that microbes
energized by vegetable oil can filter
nitrate from simulated underground
aquifers. The microbes use the carbon
in the oil as a energy source and
metabolize the nitrate and transform
it into nitrogen gas which is harmless.
- Researchers have found that bacteria living in the
guts of worms breakdown (detoxify)
many hazardous chemicals such as
hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), Organic
Gardening May/June 1993
- Alpine pennycress, a
small perennial herb, has been found
to be a hyperaccumulator of cadmium
and zinc, holding 30,000 ppm of zinc
in its leaves without loss of growth
compared to 500 ppm for most plants.
The plant can be harvested, dried and
then burned for electrical power
generation with the resulting ash
being recycled (smelted) and marketed
commercially. USDA-ARS, Environmental
Chemistry Laboratory, Beltsville,
Maryland, Dr. Rufus Chaney.
- A bacteria (klebsiella terragena) that
naturally occurs in municipal sewage
sludge degrades at least 3 major
herbicides (atrazine, cyanazine, and
simazine). Similar research has shown
that alachlor, metolachlor, and 2,4,D
are similarly affected by different
microbes. Agricultural Research
Service, Beltsville, MD, American
Nurseryman, December 15, 1995.
- POPULUS deltoides -
"Cottonwood", fast growers,
easily transplanted, native from
Alaska to Central America, used to
eliminate toxins from groundwater due
to its quick water intake and high
respiration rate. Toxins like TCE
(tricloretheylene- used to degrease parts)
- Sunflowers (Helianthus sp.) have the ability to
remove radioactive and toxic metals
from soil and water. Some strains of
sunflowers can remove up to 95% of
toxic contaminants in 24 hours and
will remove all contaminants in
longer time frames. One test in Ohio
showed that water containing 350 PPB
uranium entered the test plot and
emerged at 5 PPB or less, well below
the EPA standard of 20 PPB. A test at
Chernobyl in Russia found that
sunflower growing on styrofoam rafts
had roots that registered 8,000 times
more cesium and 2000 times more
strontium than surrounding water.
Wall Street Journal.
- It has been found that biofilters remove
toxic emmisons as effectively as
conventioal systems but at the cost.
The filters were made with microbes
in a 1:1 mix of pine bark and poultry
litter. It reduced acetone, styrene,
and methyl ethyl ketones to harmless
substances. Work is also be done on
bio-scrubbing sulfur dioxide and
carbon disulfide.
- The
US Department of Energy's Argonne
National Laboratory has found that
TNT-contaminated soil could easily be
bioremediated by creating a slurry of
water soil and molasses. As the
various soil dwelling bacteria fed on
the molasses they also consumed the
TNT (even though they could not
consume the TNT directly as a food
source). Journal Of Environmental
Quality Jan.-Feb. 1997.
- A
team of researchers at the University
of Guelph in Ontario has discovered
that lemon-scented geraniums are
capable of absorbing and accumulating
large amounts of heavy metals from
soil. Laboratory tests found the
plants were able to absorb 3,200 mg
cadmium, 18,700 mg of lead, 6,400 mg
of nickel, and 650 mg of copper in 1
kilogram of dry plant tissue in only
two weeks. The plants could also
tolerate nearly 29,000 ppm of
hydrocarbon contaminants, which were
present in test soils. For more
information call (519) 824-4120,
plant patients for bio-remediation
have been applied for. American
Nurseryman, March 15,1998.
- PTERIS vittata -
"Ladder Brake Fern", is a
hyper accumlater of arsenic in soils,
plant tissue can take soil at 40 ppm
of arsenic and plant tissue can reach
7,526 ppm in the fronds in one field
test, in laboratory tests the fronds
can reach 22,630 ppm. American
Nurseryman, March 15, 2001.
Bio-remediation Of Chemicals By Compost
It has been proven that Compost can
bioremediate (in-situ or at facility)
the following types of chemicals:
- polynuclear aromatic
hydrocarbons found in
creosote.
- chemicals such as
carbofuran insecticide (carbamate
family) and simazine herbicide
(triazine family)
- pentachlorophenol,
dioxins, cyanides, TNT, DDT,
creosote, and coal tars.
- biodegradation of
PCB and TCB, and BaP (PAH)
- pentachlorophenol (a
wood preservative more toxic than
CCA), dioxins, cyanides, DDT, TNT
(explosive), creosote, and coal tar.
- Explosive propellants (WC860 and H5010) contain
nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin,
dibutylphtalate, calcium carbonate,
dinitrotolulene, diphenylamine,
potassium nitrate, sodium sulfate,
graphite, tin dioxide.
- exachlorocyclohexane (HCH)
- CE (trichlorethylene- used to degrease parts)
- explosives 2,4,6,-trinitrotoluene,
hexayydro-1,3,5,-triniro-1,3,5-trizine,
octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine
-
Chlorophenol, PAH's (1-octadecene;
2,6,10,15,19,23-hexamethyl-tetracosane,
phenanthrene,flouranthene and pyrene) and Aroclor 1232
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mineral oil and grease, diesel, JP-4, and gasoline
- almost any hydrocarbon based material.
Revegetation Projects:
- wetlands reconstruction
- mine tailings and other degraded soils
- strip mine
- erosion control for slopes
Biofilters for:
- Storm water treatment
- odor scrubbing of meat processing and slaughter houses
- odor control for sewage treatment plants
- natural filtration media for green roofs
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