RAD Microbes Discuss a site
Established capability

Contamination destroyed in place, not relocated.

Precision microbial bioremediation for petroleum hydrocarbons and related organics, in soil and in water. Nothing is dug up, nothing is hauled away, and nothing goes to landfill.

See the six programmes
6Completed field programmes across railroads, refineries, tank farms, industrial land and water
99%+Total petroleum hydrocarbon reduction on heavily contaminated sites
In situTreated in place. Zero excavation, zero landfill, no soil leaves the site
WeeksTypical time to regulatory safe levels, not seasons
Contaminated ground on an industrial site

Every result below was achieved without digging anything up.

Documented results

Six field programmes.

Total petroleum hydrocarbons cut from tens of thousands of milligrams per kilogram to under one thousand, in place, often within weeks. Including one head to head against a competing product.

01 · Storage terminal · head to head

Waste oil pit

A large petroleum waste pit carrying hydrocarbon chains C6 to C36. A competing product was applied first and after sixty days the contamination had not fallen at all. It had risen, from 93,870 to 96,900 mg/kg. Switched to our microbial solution, the same pit reached regulatory safe levels in thirty days.

The comparison is the point. Same pit, same contamination, two products, and only one of them worked.

Starting level93,870 mg/kg
Competing product, 60 days96,900 mg/kg
Contamination rose. No reduction achieved.
Our microbes, 30 days1,221 mg/kg
Total petroleum hydrocarbons
02 · 20 acre industrial site

Oil well casing facility

Years of pipe coating and pressure testing had left twenty acres with standing oily pools and total petroleum hydrocarbons peaking at 115,280 mg/kg. A bank loan was contingent on the cleanup completing. Accelerated bioremediation combined with a redesign of the site process closed it out in under two months.

Commercially, not just technically. The deadline was a lender's, not a regulator's.

Starting level, peak115,280 mg/kg
After treatment, under 2 months<20 to 982 mg/kg
Total petroleum hydrocarbons · 20 acre site
03 · Rail · chemical plant

Railroad track cleanup

Track beds carrying diesel, grease, creosote, naphthalene and halogenated hydrocarbons. Six treatments over four and a half months cleaned 3,000 cubic yards with minimal labour and, critically, without interrupting rail service for a single day.

Trains kept running throughout. Excavation would have closed the line.

Starting level, peak29,000 mg/kg
After treatment, 4.5 months<900 mg/kg
Total petroleum hydrocarbons · 3,000 cubic yards
04 · Refinery · cost and recovery

Large tank cleaning

A tank holding roughly 40,000 barrels of heavy oily sludge. Comparable jobs had cost up to two million dollars. Treated in place with no tank entry and no hazardous waste generated, for under three hundred thousand, in weeks. More than 4,000 barrels of oil were recovered and recycled rather than disposed of.

The cleanup paid part of its own bill. Recovered oil went back into the process.

Conventional method~$2M cost
Our treatment<$300k cost
4,000+ barrels recovered and recycled
05 · Creosote · PAH

Creosote remediation

After years of excavating and hauling soil to landfill under an EPA directive, the client switched to biology. More than 500 cubic yards of creosote contaminated soil were treated with a custom surfactant blend and targeted microbes, on the minimum recommended schedule.

Landfill was the incumbent. Biology replaced a standing excavate and haul programme.

Starting level249 ppm
After treatment, ~2 months119 ppm
Creosote · 500+ cubic yards
06 · Refinery tank farm

Firewall soil cleanup

Repeated petroleum spills had left the firewall area of a tank farm heavily contaminated, with stockpiled soil averaging over 27,000 mg/kg and peaking near 57,800. In situ treatment with nutrients cleared the affected area of roughly 1,000 square yards in about one month.

One month, one thousand square yards. No excavation, no haulage.

Starting level, peak57,800 mg/kg
After treatment, ~1 month<1,000 mg/kg
Total petroleum hydrocarbons · ~1,000 sq yd
At a glance

All six, side by side.

ProgrammeContaminantBeforeAfterTime
Waste oil pitTPH, C6 to C3693,8701,22130 days
Oil well casing facilityTPH, 20 acres115,280<982<2 months
Railroad track cleanupDiesel, creosote, halogenated29,000<9004.5 months
Large tank cleaningHeavy oily sludge~$2M<$300kWeeks
Creosote remediationCreosote, PAH249 ppm119 ppm~2 months
Firewall soil cleanupTPH, tank farm57,800<1,000~1 month

Figures in mg/kg total petroleum hydrocarbons unless stated. Results reflect the conditions of those specific sites. Outcomes vary with contaminant profile, soil chemistry and site conditions.

The common thread

Why biological treatment wins.

Metabolised, not movedThe whole principle

Contamination is broken down in place by organisms that eat it. No contaminated soil leaves the site, so there is no haulage, no landfill, and no landfill tax. Excavation moves a problem and bills you for the journey.

Matched to the siteDiagnostics first

Molecular diagnostics characterise the microbial community present before anything is applied, so the consortia and biosurfactants fit the contaminant actually there. The same discipline applies whether the site is a tank farm or a corn field.

Low disruption, low costOperations continue

Minimal labour and no excavation. Work frequently continues while treatment runs, as it did on the live railroad above, where six treatments were completed without stopping a single train.

Value recoveredWhere feasible

Recoverable oil is skimmed and recycled rather than lost to disposal. On the tank cleaning programme that meant more than four thousand barrels returned rather than written off.

Formulations are built with a partnered United States microbiology laboratory. Through those laboratory relationships we bring more than 35 years of applied field experience across contaminated land and water, and a molecular genomics platform covering quantitative PCR and 16S analysis.

Have a contaminated site?

Tell us the contaminant, the levels and the site conditions, and we will come back with what the biology can do and what it will cost. If it is not a fit, we will say so.