How does Bioremediation work?

In the UK, the demand for property builds has never been higher.

As a result of the current housing crisis, all of the main political parties in the UK stated (in their 2019 election manifestos) a commitment to increasing the country’s housing supply.

As a result, there is an extremely pressing need for sites that are suitable for builds. And, in order to navigate the problem of residential land shortages, developers are increasingly turning to old brownfield sites.

However, these sites are often contaminated, due to historical industrial processes. This leaves the earth damaged and contaminated, meaning this valuable land cannot be re-purposed until the contamination is removed or treated.

Bioremediation is an extremely efficient, effective and affordable way to clean up these polluted areas, and the process is proving key to helping the country navigate the housing crisis.

Keep reading to find out more about how bioremediation helps clean up polluted areas, what the process involves, and the benefits that our Bio8 bioremediation products offer.

What is bioremediation?

Bioremediation is a process that is widely used to clean up polluted areas.

It uses microorganisms to either remove or neutralise a wide range of pollutants, such as oil and hydrocarbons, heavy metals, toxic chemicals and pesticides.

In the case of soil decontamination, bioremediation uses microorganisms to break down the pollution that is present. This is because the natural, biological processes of these microorganisms (typically bacteria or fungi) convert the pollutants into harmless substances.

Bioremediation can either take place on-site (where the contaminated soil or material is), or to treat soil or other materials that have been removed from the site. However, bioremediation most commonly takes place in-situ, as this is the best way to minimise costs, and keep the process as efficient as possible.

How do Bio8’s products work?

At Bio8, we specialise in high performance, dependable bioremediation products.

Our UK-made bioremediation product range consists of:

Surge Hydrocarbon

Bio8’s Motivate Biostimulant is a highly condensed biostimulant for the bioremediation of soil. It acts like an energy boost to stimulate rapid microbial growth for indigenous and newly added bacteria in remediation projects.

Key Features:

  • Contains biosurfactants to breakdown hydrocarbons and make them available to the bacteria to metabolise
  • Concentrated formulation reducing handling, shipping costs and storage
  • Highly biologically active formulation
  • Proprietary harvesting and processing method to maximise biological activity
  • Use for Enhanced Aerobic/Anaerobic Bioremediation

Motivate Biostimulant

The Bio8 Surge Hydrocarbon was selected to work under diverse environmental conditions and provide complete digestion of petroleum and petroleum-based by-products.

The additional use of nutrients such as Bio8’s Motivate further accelerates and stimulates other indigenous bacteria in the system.

Our product contains strains that are naturally occurring class 1 bacteria, working in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. They are also highly mobile, which means they can sense their food source and move towards it.

Currently used very successfully in petroleum-based wastewater applications and many soil remediation sites throughout the UK & Europe. Surge Hydrocarbon is an ideal solution when you need to remediate hydrocarbon-based contamination.

Our products contain a proven bacterial blend, which is precisely made to be ‘task specific’ for the breakdown of waste and hydrocarbon-based materials, such as petroleum and crude oil.

This blend consists of both aerobic and anaerobic bacterial strains, meaning it can be used extremely effectively, across a wide variety of applications.

Thanks to this blend of extremely rugged and highly efficient beneficial bacteria, our products can be used to ensure straightforward clean-up operations, and efficiently stabilise contaminated soil and groundwater. Equally, our products are also widely used on an industrial scale, such as in soil treatment centres.

Furthermore, our products accelerate the remediation process through a synergistic system. This means that, not only is the introduced Bio Surge Bacterial Blend encouraged to grow, but so is any healthy indigenous (existing) natural bacteria present in the soil. So, with the added benefit of natural bio-stimulants, beneficial bacterial activity is boosted throughout the soil. This makes the products – and the entire bioremediation process – even more environmentally friendly.

What are the benefits of bioremediation?

The key benefits of using bioremediation (compared to traditional methods of incineration or chemical treatment) include:

  • Greater cost-effectiveness
  • Dramatically improved sustainability, thanks to the use of natural processes and organisms
  • No reliance on harmful chemicals
  • Effective across the treatment of a huge range of different pollutants
  • Lower equipment and labour requirements
  • Little to no disruption (for anyone living nearby)
  • An extremely effective long-term solution
  • A great way to ensure regulatory compliance
  • Far more preferable for consumers and members of the public

To learn more about the benefits offered by bioremediation, or to find out more about how Bio8’s bio stimulants can support your upcoming project, contact our team for a quote.