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Butane Biostimulation Technologies Attack PCE / TCE Plume in Bedrock at Pennsylvania Site
In April 2001, GBI installed a Butane Injection SystemTM in a pilot study to remediate bedrock groundwater impacted by chlorinated solvents at the site of a former industrial facility located in Pennsylvania. GBI was originally contracted by ARM Group Inc. in July 2000 to conduct a four week laboratory Biofeasibility Study. The study revealed the presence of butane-utilizing bacteria in the groundwater at the Site in the proposed treatment zone, and confirmed that the populations of these bacteria would develop in sufficient numbers to complete full microbial oxidation of injected butane. Based on the results of the Biofeasibility Study, and upon approval in December 2000 by the Pennsylvania DEP, GBI and ARM Group designed the system to inject butane to the source area, which is approximately 30 X 60 feet and extends from about 15 feet below ground to as deep as 60 feet. The site is a paved area with geology consisting of fractured bedrock at 20 to 65 feet, with overburden soils of saprolite. Two injection wells, one shallow and one deep, are currently delivering butane only to the subsurface. The patented anaerobic treatment method has been employed to accelerate the transformation of aerobic conditions to anaerobic by stimulating growth of butane-utilizing microorganisms in the presence of oxygen. Once conditions become anaerobic, butane serves as an electron donor and carbon source, thereby accelerating the reductive dechlorinization of the recalcitrant compound PCE to a less chlorinated compound (such as TCE). After a period of time, the reductive dechlorinization process is halted to avoid toxic intermediates such as vinyl chloride. Air is then injected with the butane, and TCE (and other metabolites or intermediates) are destroyed via butane oxidation under aerobic conditions. Preliminary sampling results of the alternating anaerobic/aerobic process are encouraging and will be published on GBI's website, www.biobutane.com, as they become available. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Issues Two New GBI Patents On June 12, 2001, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued two additional GBI Patents, No. 6,244,346 entitled, "Method and Apparatus for Reducing Fouling of Injection and Recovery Wells," and No. 6,245,235 entitled, "System and Method of In-Situ Bioremediation with Butane-Utilizing Bacteria." These two patents bring GBI's current total to seven issued, with several patents pending related to applications of Butane Biostimulation TechnologiesTM for a broad range of industries. Butane Biostimulation Technologies is a trademark of Global BioSciences, Inc. Butane Injection System is a trademark of Global BioSciences, Inc. |
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