[Gasification] Water Treatment System for Condensates fromGasification

[Jeff Davis]

Dear List,

The time has come to take nature seriously.

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Soils around a creosote wood preservation factory were found to contain
very high concentrations (> 300 000 mg kg-1 ) of creosote. Attempts at
land farming were ineffective at reducing concentrations of recalcitrant
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to acceptable levels. An attempt
was made to achieve removal of creosote compounds by co-composting
contaminated soil (380 000 mg kg-1 ) with organic waste materials (sewage
sludge, vegetable waste, cow and poultry manure). Concentrations of
residual creosote present in the soil after the 19-month composting period
were high in the control (only 17% creosote degraded) and low in the
composted treatments (97 – 98% degraded). The composting periods required
to reduce residual creosote concentrations to below 10 000 mg kg-1 were :
poultry manure, 13 months; vegetable waste, 9 months; cow manure, 8.5
months and sewage sludge, 7 months. The relatively rapid rate of
decomposition during co composting with sewage sludge was attributed to
the high initial microbial load in sludge and the heterogeneous nature of
the organic substrate which probably supported a metabolically diverse
microbial community which was able to adapt rapidly to the creosote
substrate. It was concluded that co-composting is an attractive as well as
effective bioremediation strategy since it involves the simultaneous use
of wastes and the decontamination of polluted soil.


http://www.actapress.com/PaperInfo.aspx?PaperID=23153






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Jeff Davis
President & CEO
Microbe-A-Matic, Inc.
Frankly, we smell good when others stink!