Why Bioremediation?

Hydrocarbons are nasty business. They wreak havoc on our environment, and have high odds of contaminating our food and water sources if left untreated. The regulatory regime in place today is incredibly strict, and mishandling a spill can be a very expensive mistake. The fines can run as high as your imagination.

The traditional solution has been to capture the hydrocarbons (oil, gasoline, etc), using sorbent booms or pads, and then send the material (along with any contaminated soil) to a properly licensed, lined disposal dump. These places are very expensive to build, and getting regulatory approval can take years. As a result, the costs associated with dumping material can be painful.

The use of natural, biodegradable products, whose profiles allow them to carry high levels of hydrocarbon-eating microbes, is gaining speed across the globe. The idea here is that some microbes will consume oil, gasoline, kerosene, and diesel (tough little boogers, aren't they?), and the waste products from this are water and carbon dioxide, two things we don't consider to be pollutants.

How does this work?

Immediately after the spill, you apply the product to the contaminated area. Biosorb and the related products will absorb massive amounts of pollution, and won't leach any of it back into the environment. This enables you to either till it into the earth (and treat occasionally with water), or to easily collect it for proper disposal. From that moment, microbes have gone to work, and are eating the pollutants.

Within a period of anywhere from one week to several months (depending on the environment and the pollutant being cleaned), the site can be tested and declared clean. It will pass pollution testing because there is no pollution remaining, it has all been consumed.

But what about the microbes? Aren't germs dangerous?

Not every germ is dangerous... some of the most common germs help your body digest food, for example. You wouldn't want to get rid of them, would you? We didn't think so...

Well, these microbes naturally live in the plant matter we use as a sorbent. They love it there, but they really thrive when conditions are right (e.g., they're swimming in oil.). The microbe population rockets up to a thousandfold higher than its natural levels during this time. Once the pollutants are gone, however, there's no food left. This induces starvation amongst the microbes, which then die off to natural (pre-spill) levels. Short story? They clean themselves once the mess is handled.

So why should we use Kengro?

Kengro Biosorb is a mix of naturally-grown plant matter that in natural circumstances is a perfect host for the microbes that like to consume oil. There are no added microbes, no laboratories performing modifications of nature's work - merely a process of harvesting, drying, and packaging the product. The microbes come along for the ride, and are 100% non-pathogenic. That means you can't catch so much as a cold from them, and they'll chew up all the oil you can throw at them.

Kengro has prepared an in-depth white paper on Biosorb. It contains information that every environmental engineer might need to make the best choices for site cleanup. This paper will open your eyes, and your mind, to the possibilities Biosorb presents.