Leveraging MBTs at Remediation Projects: Save Money and Improve Outcomes
Microbial Insights has extensive expertise and experience helping clients to leverage our highly accurate, cost-effective, and informative molecular biological tools (MBTs) to provide the comprehensive data needed to select and implement effective environmental remediation strategies. Throughout the lifecycle of a remediation project, there are several ways MBTs can be used to reduce cleanup costs. Here are a few examples:
Site Characterization
- An Informed Beginning: Investing in rigorous site characterization, including collecting direct microbial data, can increase the accuracy of the conceptual site model, which can result in increased confidence in site management decisions, reduced time to closure, and cost savings over the life of the project.
- Targeted Strategies: MBTs like CENSUS® and QuantArray® can identify the specific microbial communities present and their capabilities. This allows you to tailor remediation strategies to the specific contaminants, harnessing the power of the microbes to achieve faster cleanup goals.
Remedy Selection
- Improved Decision-Making: Microbiological data provides valuable insights into the underlying biological processes at the site. This information can be used to make informed decisions about remediation strategies, potentially avoiding unnecessary costs associated with ineffective approaches.
- Cost Effective Pilot Study Substitute: In Situ Microcosms (ISMs) can provide a potential substitute for traditional pilot studies, on average costing as little as 18% of standard studies.
Performance Monitoring
- Optimized Treatment: Microbiological tools can help you monitor the effectiveness of bioremediation efforts. This allows for adjustments to optimize treatment conditions and nutrient delivery, maximizing biodegradation efficiency and potentially reducing the overall treatment time.
- Reduced Monitoring Costs: Some microbiological techniques can provide faster and more cost-effective ways to assess progress compared to traditional methods, which can lead to savings in long-term monitoring costs.
Closure
- Increased Stakeholder Acceptance: The process of achieving site closure may require compliance sampling and continued monitoring to demonstrate that the site is not a risk to human health or the environment. CENSUS® and QuantArray® analyses can provide proof that desirable microbial communities are present in sufficient concentrations to continue to degrade residual contaminants.
By leveraging these tools, you can potentially achieve faster cleanups, lower overall project costs, and more sustainable remediation outcomes. In fact, one of our customers stated that a shift from pump and treat to intrinsic bioremediation saved the responsible party over $5 million USD, which was considerably more than the approximate $15,000 USD spent on molecular and geochemical testing.
For more insights and information, and to learn more about remediation, go to https://microbe.com/environmental-remediation/. Connect with us today: [email protected] or (865) 573-8188.
