SOLUTIONS
THE INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENT
By Bilgen Yuncu, PhD, PE
Bioremediation offers solutions
for plant site contamination
Microorganisms break down and consume pollutants in contaminated media
A
mong today’s top concerns for manufac-
turing plants, especially older and legacy
sites, is their impact on the environment,
particularly in terms of potential site con-
tamination.
Managing and minimizing site contamination risk
is a top priority for plant owners and operators.
Reducing and addressing potential contamination
isn’t just the right thing to do, it also offers important
economic benefits. Creating and implementing a
robust contamination program ensures plants meet
regulatory requirements and reduce the likelihood
of costly fees and fines. Furthermore, remediating
contamination at legacy or closed plants allows that
land to be redeveloped or reused, resulting in the
Figure 1: Manufacturing Facility, AR – Following the
implementation of in situ bioremediation Trichloroethene (TCE)
concentrations at different injection areas decreased and the
groundwater plume shrunk significantly. Diagram courtesy:
Draper Aden Assoc.
24 • January/February 2021 PLANT ENGINEERING
potential for significant financial savings or an influx
in revenue.
As a result of technology advances and heightened
focus on contamination at plant sites, manufactur-
ers have access to a wide array of treatment plans to
address areas affected by hazardous contaminants.
One option that is highly effective yet often over-
looked is bioremediation.
Plant owners and operators would be wise to con-
sider bioremediation strategies because they can
produce highly efficient results at a comparatively
low operational cost. Bioremediation can be used
on a variety of contaminants, including chlorinated
solvents, pharmaceutical compounds and petroleum
hydrocarbons.
Bioremediation strategies
Bioremediation is the use of naturally occurring or
genetically engineered microorganisms, most often
microorganisms like bacteria or fungi, to consume
and break down pollutants in contaminated media,
including water (groundwater and sur-
face water), soil and sediment.
The U.S. Environmental Protec-
tion Agency (EPA) defines bioreme-
diation as “an engineered technology
that modifies environmental condi-
tions (physical, chemical, biochemi-
cal, or microbiological) to encourage
microorganisms to destroy or detoxify
organic and inorganic contaminants in
the environment.”
Bioremediation has been widely
studied in the environmental biotech-
nology field over the past three decades
and it has been shown that microor-
ganisms in various environments can
completely or partially transform pol-
lutants into environmentally acceptable
chemicals or alter their mobility (thus,
contain them). As an example, biore-
mediation can be used to transform
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 Figure 2:
Former
Manufacturing
Site, NC – The
graph depicts
contaminant
concentrations
over time in
one of the
monitoring
wells at the
site. The
contaminant
concentrations
in this
monitoring well
were decreased
approximately
99 percent in
seven years
following the
subsurface
injections.
Diagram
courtesy:
non-biodegradable pollutants such as heavy metals when an appropriate population of microorganisms Draper Aden
and radionuclides into less mobile forms. does not exist or is too slow to stimulate complete Assoc.
Bioremediation technologies can be applied in remediation of the existing contaminants.
situ (in place) or ex situ (removed from place). The An advantage of bioremediation is that it’s highly
ex situ methods, such as bioreactors or composting, tailored to a specific site. The exact approach will
require the removal of the contaminated material depend upon a variety of conditions at the site and
and its transportation to another area for treatment. the type of contaminants that need to be eliminated.
It’s important to note that ex situ bioremediation Bioremediation takes more time than other treat-
can trigger additional regulatory requirements due ment alternatives such as excavation or incinera-
to the movement of hazardous materials. tion, but the highly customized approach can yield
In situ technologies, such as bioventing or bio- improved results and still be less expensive than
stimulation, involve treatment of contaminated other treatments.
media where it is located. Although dependent on That’s one reason that bioremediation is well suited
the site and type of contamination that needs to be for legacy sites, especially those no longer in use,
addressed, in situ approaches are more common for and for manufacturers or site owners that are open
manufacturing and industrial plants. to the longer timelines. In return for their patience,
In situ bioremediation can be accomplished the results can yield a contained or remediated site
through natural attenuation or by biostimulation that can be repurposed. Rather than wasted resources
and bioaugmentation in groundwater and soil. and a liability, the site is once again an asset.
Natural attenuation leverages a number of natural
processes including biological degradation that can Results across sectors
reduce or “attenuate” contaminant concentrations The impressive results that bioremediation delivers
in groundwater and soil. Biostimulation consists of aren’t a fluke or happenstance; they’re consistent
adding nutrients to encourage indigenous micro- and impactful. As an example, a manufacturing
organism growth and thus enhance the rate and facility in Arkansas contaminated with chlorinat-
extent of biodegradation of target contaminants. ed solvents implemented in situ bioremediation
Bioaugmentation is the inoculation of contami- through subsurface injection of emulsified vegetable
nated sites with strains or microbial consortia (a oil (biostimulation) and reduced contamination
group of two or more different microbial species by more than 99% in about four years. Similarly,
that work together) with biodegrading capacities in another former manufacturing site in North

www.plantengineering.com PLANT ENGINEERING January/February 2021 • 25

 FRUSTRATED WITH SOLUTIONS
MECHANICAL SEALS? THE INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENT

We understand. Carolina contaminated with chlorinated solvent contami-

nation and low pH (~ 3) in groundwater, the contaminant
We know your pumps are workhorses, not concentrations were decreased approximately 90% in about
seven years with the implementation of biostimulation,
pretty ponies. Plant conditions seldom bioaugmentation, and pH buffer injection.
match the engineering laboratory. Installing These results also translate across industrial sectors.
mechanical seals on degraded equipment or In another example, bioremediation approaches have
shown significant promise in addressing contamination
on applications where the flush is insufficient from pharmaceutical compounds and waste. Under-
or intermittent leads to premature failure standing the biological transformation of pharmaceu-
and costly downtime. ticals and determining the biological mechanisms and
degradation pathways that are responsible for removal
is essential for accurately tracking their ultimate envi-
MECHANICAL SEALS ronmental fate and could lead to improved removal of
ARE OVER-PRESCRIBED. these compounds.
Significant progress has been made in understanding
Engineering, reliability, and maintenance the role of microbial metabolism in the transformation
and removal of pharmaceuticals in wastewater treatment
departments have long considered plants and other aquatic systems. Numerous studies in
and on
PMS 877
minimizing seals' use for these reasons.
SILVER = C0.M0.Y0.K30
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peer-reviewed the logo will be such as Environmental Science &
For use in layouts wherejournals,

LIGHT BLUE = PMS285 or C91.M53.Y0.K0 Technology and Advances in Applied Microbiology, have
placed on a dark color field such as technical
services gray.
Orange = C0.M56.Y92.K0 documented the use of microorganisms to breakdown
SILVER = C0.M0.Y0.K30
LIGHT BLUE = PMS285 or C91.M53.Y0.K0
the pharmaceutical wastes in wastewater treatment plants
There are reliable and in the environment.
An example study by Raj et al. in 2005 evaluated the
7462 options outside ROTATING SHAFT SEALING EXPERTS
treatability of a bulk drug pharmaceutical wastewa-
8.Y38.K2 ter using an activated sludge reactor with acclimatized
mechanical microbial consortia by integrating with chemical coagu-
lation as the pretreatment process. An 86.6% reduction
seals. of Chemical Oxidation Demand (COD) was achieved in
pharmaceutical industrial wastewater with the help of
the biodegradation process. In another study, published
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Best practices for success
Whether working to remediate or contain pharmaceutical
64 Servistar Industrial Way | Westfield, MA 01085 | Phone: 413-564-5202 | Fax: 413-564-5203
contamination, petrochemical hydrocarbons, chlorinated
64 Servistar Industrial Way | Westfield, MA 01085 | Phone: 413-564-5202 | Fax: 413-564-5203 solvents or other complex chemicals, the most effective
64 Servistar Industrial Way | Westfield, MA 01085 | Phone: 413-564-5202 | Fax: 413-564-5203 bioremediation strategies focus on three key best practices:
64 Servistar Industrial Way | Westfield, MA 01085 | Phone: 413-564-5202 | Fax: 413-564-5203 Understand the Contaminant: Study the contaminant(s)
E to ensure you have a clear understanding of their proper-
ties and challenges. Not all contaminants are biodegrad-
ROTATING SHAFT SEALING EXPERTS able and sometimes the degradation products are more
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Fax: 413-564-5203 26 • January/February 2021 PLANT ENGINEERING
input #7 at www.plantengineering.com/information
 Understand the Site Conditions: Bioremediation strate-
gies allow you to design specific solutions for a contami-
nant and the specific environmental conditions. Tailoring
your bioremediation method based on thorough assess-
ment of site-specific conditions is crucial for success.
For in situ applications, you must identify and develop
a targeted delivery strategy to ensure the nutrients or
microorganisms added to the site are in contact with the
contaminant for efficient remediation.
Maximize Ongoing Controls: For active manufactur-
ing and industrial sites, it’s crucial to develop ongoing
bioremediation strategies that will monitor and continue
to address contamination. Monitoring ensures that the
contamination is well maintained, while alerting you to
any potential challenges or problems. Yet another benefit
of bioremediation strategies is that they can be modified
to meet the changing conditions at a site.

Proactive strategies minimize risk

Contamination challenges at plant sites affect all industrial
and manufacturing sectors. The EPA offered a glimpse of
the extent of this challenge for manufacturers when the
agency reported in 2017 that they and their state counter-
parts provided oversight to approximately 1.3 million facili-
ties to minimize the release of environmental contaminants.
Treatment of contamination caused by hazardous
chemicals at industrial and manufacturing sites can be
difficult to manage, given their complex nature. A number
of potential solutions are available to manage chemical
THAT’S THE TRUE MEANING OF
releases at plant sites. In recent years, bioremediation
has emerged as a leading option to reduce contaminants
RELIABILITY
at operating facilities and even address long-shuttered
legacy sites. Perhaps the most attractive aspect of biore-
mediation is that this strategy produces highly effective
results at comparatively lower costs than other relevant
treatment technologies.
Contamination and hazardous byproducts are a real-
ity for many manufacturers. The versatility inherent in
bioremediation strategies, as well as the success rate of
these strategies, makes this approach ideal for industrial
sites. Identifying solutions, like bioremediation, to man- EXPLORE THE BROAD RANGE OF
age and mitigate those complex challenges is an optimal NEW SULLAIR COMPRESSORS AT SULLAIR.COM
approach for businesses to address their environmental
challenges and liabilities in an efficient manner. PE

Bilgen Yuncu is an environmental engineer with Draper

Aden Associates, a mid-Atlantic engineering, surveying and
input #8 at www.plantengineering.com/information
environmental services firm. Based in the firm’s Raleigh, NC
office, she serves as an environmental engineer, project manager
and remediation group program manager. Bilgen specializes
in bioremediation strategies of hazardous compounds in soil
and groundwater. She received her PhD from North Carolina
State University, holds an NC professional engineer license,
and is a project management professional.

PLANT ENGINEERING January/February 2021 • 27

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