Adventus Daramend
DARAMEND® is an advanced biological treatment technology for soil, sediment, and solid wastes contaminated with recalcitrant organic compounds. DARAMEND® technology has been successfully applied to more than 7,000,000 metric tons of soil, sediment, and other wastes contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), PCP, phthalates, chlorinated herbicides and pesticides, organic explosive compounds and wood preservatives at a variety of industrial and military sites in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. Independent audits conducted by the US EPA and Environment Canada found DARAMEND® to be effective for the treatment of soils at wood preserving sites. DARAMEND® has been successfully applied to soils containing organic explosive compounds at US Navy and Army sites in Virginia, Iowa, New Jersey, Nevada, and Illinois. The technology is uniquely advantageous because it can often be applied without excavation, generates no odors or leachate, and does not result in bulking. The use of DARAMEND® can result in substantial cost savings and shorter remediation schedules compared to traditional bioremediation processes, such as composting.
OVERVIEW OF DARAMEND® TECHNOLOGY
DARAMEND is a bioremediation technology proven effective for treating oils and sediments containing persistent organic contaminants, including a range of organic explosive compounds. DARAMEND has been used successfully throughout the world to treat over 500,000 tons of soil, sediment, and solid wastes containing persistent organic contaminants such as chlorinated pesticides (e.g., toxaphene, DDT and dieldrin), wood preservatives and organic explosives (e.g., TNT, DNT, RDX and HMX).
DARAMEND is a patented technology (U.S. Patent No. 5,618,427) that integrates controlled-release carbon and reduced metals (e.g., zero-valent iron) to significantly accelerate destruction of targeted compounds. The technology has been successfully applied at a number of Department of Defense sites to treat soil and sediment impacted by organic explosives:
o U.S. Army’s Raritan Arsenal - Edison, NJ
o U.S. Naval Weapons Station -Yorktown, VA
o Iowa Army Ammunition Plant - Burlington, IA
o Joliet Army Ammunition Plant - Joliet, IL
DARAMEND treatment is faster, better and more cost efficient as compared with conventional composting. A few of the key process features are described below in more detail:
o Creation of Strong Reducing Conditions
As native soil microorganisms consume DARAMEND organic amendment particles, oxygen consumption is stimulated. In addition to microbial oxygen consumption, the inorganic amendment (e.g., powdered zero-valent iron) serves as a chemical scavenger of oxygen. This synergistic combination of oxygen consumption allows consistent attainment of redox potentials as low as -600 mV, which greatly benefits reductive dechlorination processes.
o Cycled Anaerobic and Aerobic Phases of Treatment
During very strong reducing conditions products of anaerobic microbial activity may accumulate and reduce the rate at which the biodegradation of organic explosive compounds proceeds. To manage this potential problem soil is often cycled through sequential anaerobic and aerobic phases of treatment.
o Thorough Mixing
Soil can be treated in place, in windrows, or in engineered biopiles. Where appropriate, powerful, durable tillage equipment is used to simultaneously incorporate the amendments and thoroughly breakdown soil aggregates. This prevents physical shielding of contaminants within dense, stable soil aggregates and thereby ensures that soil microorganisms have access to essentially all contaminants present.
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