Flow-Through Barriers
For Contaminated Water
Flow-through barriers…, an oxymoron at first blush!
Unconsolidated soil and rocks, when filled with water, make aquifers.
Aquifers are subsurface formations of soil and rock that are saturated with water. By
their very nature, aquifers are made of pores and particles. The groundwater fills the
pores. Some rock formations are more or less porous than others.
For example: Clay is 50% empty space; sand is 25% empty space, and semiconsolidated sandstone is 10% empty space.
Contrary to the notions of some, aquifers are not subterranean lakes or rivers. Take a
swimming pool, fill it with sand to the brim, put water in the bottom two feet and
you’ve got a two-foot thick aquifer on your hand.
The water inside the aquifers can be stationary, or it can be moving. The movement of
water inside aquifers is a function of the make of the aquifer, how fast it is being
recharged, its elevation above the sea and the amount it slopes.
When groundwater is contaminated with hazardous substances, we immediately get
interested in its movement: how fast? Where? Any wells down the line? Any beneficial
use threatened?
When groundwater moves, it
carries the contamination with
it. The contamination may be
entirely dissolved in the water,
like sugar, or it can float freely
on the water table and slowly
slide downhill through the soil.
We have a case of tens of
thousands of gallons of free
gasoline pushing forward across
a major thoroughfare into
unsuspecting properties on the
other side.
The study of water goes back to ancient times. Since humans first settled along the
banks of lakes and rivers, there has been great interest in the appropriate management
of fresh water resources both as a necessity for life as well as to avoid potential health
hazards. It was along the Indus in Pakistan, the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia,
the Hwang Ho in China, and the Nile in Egypt that the first hydraulic engineers created
canals, levees, dams, subsurface water conduits, and wells as early as 5000-6000 years
ago. Hydrologic information became vital to these early civilizations. (Hubbart 2008)
The Romans developed aqueduct systems reflecting an extensive practical
understanding of hydrology and hydraulics, and did so utilizing the basic hydrologic
ideas established and passed along by the Greeks (Dingman 1994).
During the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci (1500) in France proclaimed on the basis
of field observations that the waters in rivers come from precipitation.
Why so much interest in water? Water is essential to every aspect of life. Much of our
drinking water comes from underground
sources (aquifers). Water to irrigate crops
comes from both surface sources as well as
pumped from aquifers. We all have a great
interest in reliable, safe water resources.
Water is life.
When contaminates find their way into our
water systems, we need to remove them.
With leaks often penetrating several layers
of the subsurface, the most effective
method for total remediation would in
theory be in the total removal of the
impacted soil and groundwater. However,
this would also be disruptive to business,
destructive to the property, hazardous, and terribly expensive. Out of necessity, other
methods developed that provide less than total remediation. With these methods,
projects take long to complete, sometimes as long as 10 to 15 years. Costs of
remediation vary with the size of the project from hundreds of thousands of dollars
into the millions.
Over the years, remediation methods have
progressed to soil washing, high volume
sparging, vapor extraction, vapor-water (dualphase) extraction, injection of chemical agents,
surfactant treatment, and remediation through
the activation of naturally occurring bacteria in
the subsurface (bio-remediation).
In cases where existing technologies cannot
reach target cleanup goals, the contamination
is left to degrade over time; a snail-slow
process that leaves cases open indefinitely and
hampers real-estate transactions.
Traditional bio-remediation is a step in the right direction but has been ineffective for
real-time results. With varying degrees of effectiveness and high costs, the industry has
been in need of a better solution.
Subsurface Metabolism Enhancement (SME, pat. #6,464,005) is a new development of
the old, ineffective bio-remediation methods in the direction of producing total
remediation in record time. It is an aerobic, in-situ method of hydrocarbon
remediation. SME gently works
with the earth and the
organisms for total eradication
of invasive petroleum products.
Treating the subsurface
organisms in their habitat as an
inclusive, organic eco-system,
SME accelerates what the earth
with its subsurface dwellers
would slowly do on their own.
We have a series of processes
designed to work together in
activating, energizing and
sustaining microbial
consumption of hydrocarbon
contamination. Even more, SME
energizes the subsurface
microbial community to expand
fast towards larger, newer and
farther conquests, overcoming
barriers of tight silt and clay formations. The only bi-products of SME are harmless
water and carbon dioxide. How does the process work?
A series of small-diameter nutrient-injection wells are installed throughout the
contaminated area. The wells feed regular microbial-digestive nutrients that stimulate
microbial activity and then sustain it with periodic feeds. Another series of small
diameter wells are spread throughout the area for extraction of the carbon dioxide that
is generated in the process. The ingenuity of the design is in the control of the delicate
balance between feeding and removal of the waste product. Like any other living
organisms, vitality and function are optimized through proper feed and regular
evacuation of waste. Environmentally compatible nutrients are the only chemicals used
and no structures need to be removed. Carefully designed site plans allow for business
to operate as usual while the system silently works 24/7 below the surface.
SME is organic, natural and less expensive than traditional methods; it’s also effective
beyond any existing levels of performance of the technologies of yesteryear. With up to
99.99% eradication, SME far exceeds EPA standards. With multiple sites cleaned in
Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and South Carolina, SME has proven effective in diverse
environments. In short, SME revolutionizes the remediation industry and doing it
organically, unobtrusively, at lower cost than traditional methods and to levels of
cleanup never achieved before. (Ellis, 2012)
[Images of a couple of SME graphs]
When contaminated water is moving through an aquifer toward a beneficial use such
as drinking water, irrigation water or wildlife habitat, SME can be used to destroy the
contaminates by microbial consumption before reaching the beneficiary, leaving
behind only water and CO2. This can be done by installing the system perpendicular to
the flow of water within the aquifer. As the contaminated water moves through the
supercharged microbial mass, the system effectively forms a barrier to the
contaminates by consumption and clean water flows-through on its way to the
beneficial user!
[Hyperlink to drawings of our flow through barrier]
SME is used for petroleum-based hydrocarbons and SMEcl is used for solvent based
hydrocarbons. SME is simply extraordinary!
The owner of SME technology is Mark T. Ellis of Lehi, Utah. It is licensed to Pure Enviro
Management LLC of Orem, Utah, and sublicensed to Ami Adini & Associates, Inc. of Los
Angeles, California for implementation in California.