Bioremediation Companies Help Restore The Environment Naturally
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When a major oil spill occurs, the environmental effects linger long after the story disappears from the daily news cycle. Crews are almost always shown rescuing local birds and other affected animals, but the most significant cleanup efforts today involve creatures that exist and work on a much smaller scale. Bioremediation companies use naturally occurring organisms to consume and destroy man-made pollutants.
These creatures include bacteria and associated enzymes, yeasts, and fungi. All help to break down and destroy naturally occurring pollutants, including crude oil. While effective, the process takes time, and works more efficiently when the bacteria being used already favor a particular substance. In some instances, the natural processes need additional stimulation in order to more rapidly clean large areas.
Unlike other organisms, these creatures produce energy and take in nutrients while digesting harmful substances, effectively removing those chemicals them from the existing food chain, and preventing other creatures from being poisoned. Bio-stimulation encourages them to eat more than they would normally by increasing the oxygen supply through aeration, which helps them to metabolize substances more quickly. Bio-augmentation goes a step further.
Often used in combination with aeration, augmentation basically means increasing the population of existing beneficial microbes by adding large quantities of artificially grown organisms of the same type. This helps nature take its course, but without wasting as much time. If these new additions are balanced properly, existing toxins will be broken down faster into sulfates, carbon dioxide, water, and other beneficial materials.
The process works both in water and on land. The rapid mobilization of resources that World War II demanded left little time for environmental concerns, and leaking storage units or fuel depots in military installations created ecological havoc during the following decades. The poisons remained active for years, contaminating ground water and increasing cancer rates locally. Traditional removal methods involved scooping up soil, and then storing it permanently.
Encouraging microbes do the dirty cleanup work reduces surface disruption and digging, and the process can be specifically targeted toward a particular contaminant. Rather than producing additional toxic disposal issues, microorganisms create by-products that actually serve as food for other local creatures. This method costs less over the long-term, and is ideal in locations that are physically difficult to reach.
Not all toxic contamination can be effectively removed biologically. There are some materials that even the hardiest bacteria cannot consume, and the size and extent of the pollution site is also important in determining whether this type of remediation will work as intended. Sites must be monitored to make sure toxins are steadily diminishing, and it takes micro-organisms longer to do their job when compared to mechanically removing and containing the topsoil.
Many companies choose this type of recovery because the final costs are around half those associated with earlier methods, including lowered insurance rates for employees not subjected to hazards. There are reduced concerns for the long-term safety and viability of storage sites, and there is virtually no chemical evaporation. When all conditions are ideal for this process, a balanced and healthy natural system can be restored in relatively short time.
These creatures include bacteria and associated enzymes, yeasts, and fungi. All help to break down and destroy naturally occurring pollutants, including crude oil. While effective, the process takes time, and works more efficiently when the bacteria being used already favor a particular substance. In some instances, the natural processes need additional stimulation in order to more rapidly clean large areas.
Unlike other organisms, these creatures produce energy and take in nutrients while digesting harmful substances, effectively removing those chemicals them from the existing food chain, and preventing other creatures from being poisoned. Bio-stimulation encourages them to eat more than they would normally by increasing the oxygen supply through aeration, which helps them to metabolize substances more quickly. Bio-augmentation goes a step further.
Often used in combination with aeration, augmentation basically means increasing the population of existing beneficial microbes by adding large quantities of artificially grown organisms of the same type. This helps nature take its course, but without wasting as much time. If these new additions are balanced properly, existing toxins will be broken down faster into sulfates, carbon dioxide, water, and other beneficial materials.
The process works both in water and on land. The rapid mobilization of resources that World War II demanded left little time for environmental concerns, and leaking storage units or fuel depots in military installations created ecological havoc during the following decades. The poisons remained active for years, contaminating ground water and increasing cancer rates locally. Traditional removal methods involved scooping up soil, and then storing it permanently.
Encouraging microbes do the dirty cleanup work reduces surface disruption and digging, and the process can be specifically targeted toward a particular contaminant. Rather than producing additional toxic disposal issues, microorganisms create by-products that actually serve as food for other local creatures. This method costs less over the long-term, and is ideal in locations that are physically difficult to reach.
Not all toxic contamination can be effectively removed biologically. There are some materials that even the hardiest bacteria cannot consume, and the size and extent of the pollution site is also important in determining whether this type of remediation will work as intended. Sites must be monitored to make sure toxins are steadily diminishing, and it takes micro-organisms longer to do their job when compared to mechanically removing and containing the topsoil.
Many companies choose this type of recovery because the final costs are around half those associated with earlier methods, including lowered insurance rates for employees not subjected to hazards. There are reduced concerns for the long-term safety and viability of storage sites, and there is virtually no chemical evaporation. When all conditions are ideal for this process, a balanced and healthy natural system can be restored in relatively short time.
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