The TCE-concept was developed by Bioclear earth in the 90s and has been optimized by us since. Nowadays it is the standard procedure for soil remediation of areas contaminated with hazardous chlorinated compounds such as tri- and perchloroethylene. These pollutants have entered the environment due to the activity of chemical cleaning companies or industrial metal degreasing for the production of for example cars and electronics.
The solution: Bioclear earth developed the TCE technique to degrade these hazardous compounds in a biological fashion. The contaminated groundwater is pumped up at the location site and is provided with a carbon source and dechlorinating bacteria. Subsequently, the water is pumped back into the ground and the bacteria start breaking down the pollutants on-site.
One of the beauties of this technique is that it can be integrated into existing pump & treat systems like a plug & play module, resulting in a much more effective remediation.
The conventional approach, such as pumping followed by stripping of the groundwater (pump & treat) comes with high costs and chemical waste, which needs to be processed further. Thanks to the TCE-concept there is no more residual waste. The major strength of this method is that the contaminants are degraded to harmless compounds such as water, chlorine and carbon dioxide, which are a part of nature’s cycle, in matter of months or a few years.
The advantages:
For more information about our approach, please contact Adri Nipshagen.
