Project details
Project ID: 2020-1.1.2-PIACI-KFI-2020-00119
Beneficiary name: KELET-ÚT Építőipari, Beruházó és Szállítmányozó Korlátolt Felelősségű Társaság
Project title: Development of a bioexploration technology for in situ remediation of hydrocarbon contamination of soils from mineral oil
Contracted amount of aid: 617 248 398
Aid intensity: 70,63%
Project completion date: 2025.02.28.
Project description
One of the key areas of traditionally applied remediation technologies, which aim at cleaning up contaminated soils and water bodies, is in situ soil replacement and intervention without moving contaminated soil/extracting groundwater. This, taking into account the chemical nature of the contaminants, is mostly based on some oxidation or reduction process resulting from chemical or biological processes. Within organic pollution, a separate group of pollutants are those of fuel origin, where pollution usually occurs at the soil surface or in near-surface layers (e.g. underground tanks), which can seep down to the aquifer and from there spread vertically and horizontally, contaminating large areas.
A common feature of the treatment of these contaminants is that the active substance used is usually delivered to the contaminated area by injection into the subsurface. However, contaminants that infiltrate from the surface or are above groundwater level in the unsaturated zone cannot be treated in this way. The research and development consortium behind this call for proposals aims to develop a process for treating contaminants in the saturated zone and above groundwater layers that cannot be treated by conventional methods, by developing a so-called bio-exploitation technology.
The development direction is not without precedent, as the present consortium has carried out preliminary experiments to prove the concept, i.e. using combined explosive blasting to deliver effective microorganisms to a contaminated area in a contamination hotspot. The questions and directions for improvement raised by the field experiment have formed the basis of the technical material for the present proposal. The composition of the consortium has evolved through joint activities over the past years, as it was composed of companies involved in civil engineering, excavation and remediation, its modelling and applied research institutes with expertise in the microbiological aspects of bioremediation. The process is based on an innovative solution for the introduction of micro-organisms specifically selected and produced for the degradation of contaminants in the subsurface.
We increase the permeability of the contaminated subsurface layers by controlled blasting and at the same time inject the desired decontaminating agent evenly distributed into the contaminated layers of the permeable geological medium at the desired depth ranges. In this way, we increase the effectiveness of the access of the hydrocarbon-degrading micro-organisms to the pollutant, while at the same time, by loosening the geological medium, we create a pathway for the release and circulation of air and soil moisture in the layers to be decontaminated, which is a fundamental condition for intensive hydrocarbon degradation.
This remediation process is called bioexploration (bioremediation + explosive injection). Bioexploration-based remediation involves mixing microorganisms with the contaminated geological medium using shock waves of a specific energy and direction. Shock waves are created by detonating explosives used in industry. The bio-exploration process is an “in situ” technology that can be applied at the site of contamination. The aim of the proposal is therefore to develop, through industrial research and experimental development, a complex system for the in situ remediation of oil-contaminated subsurface sediments. The market success of the project is ensured by the participating companies and their extensive international and national contacts.
