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A protocol for bioremediation agents for fresh water and ground water oil spills
Current protocol for evaluation of bioremediation agents as outlined under CFR 40, Part 300 subpart J is limited to open water oil spills in marine environments, however, there are no standards to cover oil pollution entering into inland waters (not necessarily navigable), caused by industrial runoffs and storm water drainage. Due to the absence of protocol for fresh water environments, Sarva Bio Remed had to use a reduced salinity version of the marine version of SpillRemed instead of a version designed for the fresh water version. We believe that it is essential that a set of standards and guidelines for the local DEP (departments of environment protection) be established so that the vendors and the regulators can agree on a minimum set of standards to accepting and or listing products on the approved product's list to treat oil pollution in non-navigable waters. This article outlines a list of parameters that a bioremediation agent should meet to be considered for inclusion in the list. The intent of this article and the proposed protocol attempts to reduce guesswork from the performance of bioremediation solutions.
Being a solution provider and being keenly aware of the budgetary constraints for a cleanup project, we believe that setting tighter regulations is an important first step in coming up with a list of viable options available for the end-user. However, before having a product on the shelf for a treatment plant to use, we need to come up with a protocol to evaluate such a product, similar to the NCP schedule C for bioremediation agents for marine oil spills.
The timeline for the evaluation needs to be deterministic, specially in the case of ground water remediation where the remediation time seems to be prolonged to more than 100 days and therefore usually requires multiple applications of the solution due to increased oxygen demand for example. Any solution that does reduce the overall TPH content by about 65% within 3 weeks is a useful rule of thumb for a viable solution.
A protocol that lays down these requirements as mandatory and increases the standards for product acceptance, will help improve the budgeting process for cities to approve a solution.
Bacterial growth is an important parameter.In our experience, the results seem to indicate a strong correlation between bacterial growth and reduction in TPH as the results elsewhere documented in our website show.
Bacterial growth is often a parameter that seems to have some controversy surrounding it as the existing technology does not seem to consistently support bacterial growth, however, bio-augmentation can be viable only when there is a multi-generational growth of oil-eating bacteria to be able to reduce the oil content in short periods of time.
The product should leave no residue as this will dramatically reduce the overall cost of cleanup. The goal of this protocol is to encourage development of a new class of products that will reduce the cost of cleanup of an oil spill to less than $100 per gallon of oil spilled.
Our goal is to be able to reduce the cost of cleanup of an oil cleanup to less than $45 per gallon of oil from the current estimates that the US Coast Guard presents of about $400 per gallon. This is an important parameter in bringing any product for evaluation by cities and courts that are deciding on the cost of treatment.
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Treatment of an oil spill contained in a berm
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Water after treatment with SpillRemed: clear and ready to discharge
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