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.
Conclusions: At the municipal garden in Mandarituba, soil was contaminated with transformer oil due to an act of vandalism. COPEL, the utility company was responsible for the cleanup and restoration of the contaminated soils and the company decided to use AgroRemed BR CTBA specially customized for such applications. The site was excavated and treated as biopile with AgroRemed BR CTBA. Both TPH values and VOC’s were acceptable and the project is closed. The studies showed that AgroRemed BR CTBA was effective in the ratio of almost 1 gallon per ton of soil contaminated with transformer soils.
The substation was damaged by vandals and there was release of transformer oil from the damaged units.Bioremediation using AgroRemed BR CTBA was selected for on-site remediation of the contaminated soil. The contaminated soil was excavated and made into piles and each pile was treated independently with AgroRemed BR CTBA. At the end of four weeks of application the TPH in the soil was reduced to acceptable levels and the soil was filled back.
A paper was presented at 24th Annual International Conference on Contaminated Soils, Sediments and Water held at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, October 20-23, 2008
The report on the project at Atuba in Curitiba was available in English and is therefore difficult for the environmental groups in Brazil to follow. This report is now available in Portuguese sent by Paulo Fernandes.
This is short report in Portuguese on various projects that were done using AgroRemed in Brazil. The report is not available in English.
The site was excavated and treated as biopile with AgroRemed BR CTBA. Both TPH values and VOC’s were acceptable and the project is closed. The studies showed that AgroRemed BR CTBA was effective in the ratio of almost 1 gallon per ton of soil contaminated with transformer soils.
Due to some miscreants damaging drums containing transformer oil, the area had to be remediated with AgroRemed BR. The site was divided into 6 squares and each square is being treted independently with AgroRemed BR CTBA. At the end of June, 2007 first square was treated and the TPH in the soil is reduced to acceptable levels. The project was closed after recording satisfactory values.