Catalina BioSolutions’ Bioremediation Products

We have recently developed an amazing nutrient for microbes. To boot, it is all-natural with no chemicals added. We are achieving tremendously high plate counts. Now, when looking through a microscope, you will be looking at “wall to wall” colonies. One client had a plate count analysis from his mixing tank before inoculation and the result came back “TNTC” meaning “too numerous to count”! (If you’ve never heard of this term before, it’s an actual technical term used in determining microbial plate count. I am not making this up.)

We’ve known for a long time – both through field tests and from our customers’ project data — that the nutrient portion of a bioremediation job is equally as important as the microbes themselves. So we’ve been continually developing, refining and testing various nutrients to help stimulate and multiply microbes. The augmented microbes that you inject will be stimulated to grow and wax strong, and the indigenous microbes, those already in the soil and water, will grow exponentially.

Essentially, the Biobooster puts the bugs in a feeding frenzy, and they then will devour all sorts of contaminant.

In fact, when sites take longer to close (delaying that all-important pay check!), most of the time the site doesn’t need more microbes; rather, it needs more nutrient. How do we know this? We observe samples under a microscope. And we do this all the time, we do it for free and we’re experienced at seeing what works and what doesn’t.

In fact, when we get samples from a project that is underway but not completed, and one with no visible microbial plate count, one of the things we do is add our Biobooster nutrient to the sample and voila, in about a day we have plate counts that are extraordinarily high, often TNTC.

As a microbial manufacturer, we know that there are two schools of thought regarding bioremediation. One is bio augmentation, where preselected microbes are grown off site, then added to the contamination. The other is stimulation, were microbes that exist on a given site (also known as indigenous microbes) are stimulated to do the cleanup that nature intended. Just now at a highly accelerated rate.

So, what we are saying is that no matter which school of thought you agree with, the use of our microbial nutrient (Biobooster) will help you reach closure levels faster, save you money, and get you paid quicker. Now there’s a refreshing thought!

The ingredients in our newest Biobooster are all natural and no chemicals have been added. There is even a natural surfactant in the mixture. It has a long-lasting effect on the bugs and not much is needed. For example, you just need to mix 4 cups with every 55 gallons of water, then apply. You can mix this with no bugs, your bugs, our bugs, domestic, foreign, even microbes from outer space. Well … maybe not outer space!

So the decision on which — or whose — bugs to buy, or no bugs to buy, becomes not as important as it used to be. Maybe, just maybe, you should just add the Biobooster as a prelimary step, treat and prepare the soil or water, and run some lab tests in 30 days. You might not even have to buy anything else! But if you do, you’ve already prepared the soil or water and the pretreatment will greatly reduce the dollars you spend on microbes. And one last thing, if you do buy bugs, and if you do buy our new Biobooster, you can reduce your bug purchases by 75%!

Eegads! I may have just put all of us bug manufacturers out of business!!

So what we have here is a way to save money by buying no bugs or 75% fewer bugs, reach closure faster, get paid quicker, maybe just maybe only use the indigenous microbes that are already on the site (those are free remember), please the regulators (no harsh chemicals), easy to use (just add to water), requires no storage requirements, requires no wait time, and has an unlimited shelf life. Now that’s really something!

Go ahead, make a call! Buy some of our Biobooster. We sell it in 20 pound quantities and the price depends on how much you order.
Jerry Coon
520.299.9808

P.S. As always, we will test your samples at no charge.

Nothing will happen in a bioremediation treatment unless you can get the microbes and nutrient in contact with the contaminant. Simple enough. You should strive for a moisture level of at least 20%. How you achieve that goal varies from engineer to engineer.

A good rule is to set up inoculation points at six-foot intervals in closely packed soil. So drill at 6-foot centers and inoculate with the mixture of microbes and nutrient, and you will get a good horizontal overlap. Frequently, the inoculant will overflow out of the adjacent hole, which is a good indication that there is excellent horizontal disbursal.

Here is a review of some basic soil moisture facts:

• A cubic yard of soil contains the equivalent of 201 gallons of water.
• 20% of that is slightly more than 40 gallons.
• So in perfectly dry soil, you would need 40 gallons to achieve a 20% moisture level.
• Most soil already contains a moisture level, so you may need less than 40 gallons and that can be easily calculated.

The selection of the drill type is important as well. While a GeoProbe is a useful and inexpensive piece of equipment, it is important to know that in closely packed soil, the drill can actually pack the soil around the bore hole even tighter, and can, in fact, pack the soil so tight that fluid can’t penetrate it. This makes it difficult to properly disburse the microbes, nutrient and the water. Your driller will help you with this.

Our Passive System

This simple, passive, gravity system works really well when used in conjunction with our Carbon Biocritters. In one of our popular products, we grow our microbes on and in small carbon pellets. The resultant plate counts are enormous. Since a tablespoon of carbon pellets contain the surface area of a football field, you can imagine the nooks and crannies available for the microbes to live and breed in.

When you are drilling your inoculation points (remember, 6 foot centers) simply line the holes with slotted PVC, capped at the bottom end with the slots placed in the contaminated zone, and leave the surface end either slightly recessed if you need to drive over the property (as in a gas station) or leave the stubs exposed. Either way, you can cover the top end with removable caps so you can continue to make inoculations during the life of the project.

Before insertion of the slotted PVC pipes, or right after insertion, add some of the dry Carbon Biocritters, about 6-8 inches from the bottom. This will contain billions and billions of microbes perfectly at home in the carbon. They will continue to grow and multiply when you add water and nutrient to each PVC tube. The carbon pellets do not dissolve and merely are the carriers for the billions of microbes. The microbes will last month after month and when you add more water and nutrient, there will be so many microbial colony-forming units that the excess will sheer off and make their way through the slots in the PVC and disburse into the site.

You can keep the site moist, well supplied with nutrient, and continually add more mixture of microbes and nutrient whenever you can. One man can keep a site active once every week or two. You can inject the solution of microbes under pressure for even better horizontal disbursement. But check with your regulators as they may object to “pushing the plume” outward.

We like this system and have used it successfully many, many times.

Please call me if you have any questions. I answer all calls personally. Jerry at 520.299.9808.