ENSR Consulting and Engineering/Larsen Engineers Ex-Situ Biovault

Technology Description: The ENSR Biovault Treatment Process is an ex-situ bioremediation technology for the treatment of organic contaminated soils. Contaminated soils placed in specially designed soil piles, referred to as biovaults, are remediated by stimulating the indigenous soil microbes to proliferate and metabolize the organic contaminants in the soil at an accelerated rate. Depending on contaminant phase and volatility, a certain portion of the contaminant mass is removed from the soil by vapor extraction/air stripping. Optimizing the bioremediation component of the ex-situ biovault technology involves a series of controlling factors that directly influence microbial activity, including soil pH, electron acceptor availability, moisture, and nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. According to the developer, the principal products of the technology are water, carbon dioxide and inorganic salts. Some intermediates may also be formed as a consequence of metabolic activity, depending on the chemistry of the parent contaminants and mode of operation (e.g., aerobic or anaerobic). The developer claims that any intermediates that are formed will be captured and degraded by other microbes, sorbed on soil particles for later degradation, solubilized by water in the soil, or volatilized and removed by the biovault’s gas management system (GMS).