Atuba, Brazil Project

At Atuba at the corporate site of COPEL, a state owned utility company, soil was heavily contaminated with transformer oil due the the long history of contamination since 1964 and also due to unsafe practices of storage and cleanup. The level of contamination in soil is as high as 766695 ppm and much of the contamination was found to be located at 1 meter depth. The site is located on a hill and covers 18,400 square meters of total area along side the river Parana and has been declared as the Area pf Permanent Protection (APP) by the State. It was mandatory therefore, that the soil is remediated without disturbing soil through excavation nor disturb the local flora and fauna and do not use AgroRemed BR by direct application on the soil. The treatment of soil was made using Pump and Treat method by washing soil with rain water through erecting irrigation canals in the soil and the water contaminated with washed oil was then treated with AgroRemed. The results showed considerable reduction in TPH values in soil and in one case the value was reduced from 766,965 ppm to 72 ppm.

Construction of irrigation canals

Photographs show extensive construction of irrigation canals to facilitate pump & treat of soils contaminated with transformer oil.

Canals after completion

The canals constructed after covering with gravel for movement of water through the underlying soil

Pumping of water after washing soil and collected in the permeation canals

In the pump and treat process, rain water was allowed to pass through the permeation canals and was then stored in large tanks for treatment with AgroRemed BR

Breakdown of oil through bioremediation

The water containing polluting oil was then treated with AgroRemed BR and the oil is remediated and finally clean water is discharged into the environment.