RETAIL GASOLINE FACILITY: LAKEWOOD, CO

System Type:

Biological Reactive BioNets Enhanced Bioaugmentation and Biostimulation Installed with teaming partner FRx
Location:

Retail Gasoline Facility, Lakewood, CO
Client:

Peerless Tire Company, Denver, CO

Project Description:

In August, 1997, in cooperation with Terracon Environmental, FSI designed and installed a Colorado State Oil Inspection Section approved Corrective Action Plan at an operating gasoline retail station in Lakewood, Colorado. In FSI’s first commercial BioLuxing™ project, seven BioNets™ with 31 total BioLuxes were installed down to 20 feet below grade to bioremediate BTEX and TPH compounds in the clay soils and groundwater.
The enhanced in situ X-PeRT™ treatment system was installed in 12 days with hydraulic fracturing methods. Isolite® was pre-inoculated with indigenous aerobic microbes that were tested, cultured, colonized and then pumped into three of the BioNets which included 13 BioLuxes. Three other BioNets with 13 BioLuxes were established with Isolite saturated with nutrients and selected microbes known to remediate BTEX from a commercial supplier. The application at these six BioNets is called bioaugmentation. The seventh BioNet with five BioLuxes received Isolite and nutrients only to prove that adequate biostimulation would be suffient at this site and to compare the long-tem results.
After 6 weeks, core samples were taken from each of the BioNets to check the conditions and activity of the microbes—a stress test. All of the pre-inoculated BioLuxes had large and active populations of the added microbes and bioremediation was working well. The BioLuxes with only Isolite and nutrients had already attracted and naturally been inoculated to about 50% levels by indigenous microbes. Signs of bioremediation were present. With periodic injections of nutrients and air to all BioNets, the site was being bioremediated.
At the time FSI turned the project back to the contractor for further O & M and monitoring, concentrations had been reduced in groundwater by up to 94 percent, with the greatest results coming from the BioNet area that had been properly biostimulated. The project was designed and installed for $160,000. Prior estimates to clean up the site using traditional methods ranged from $500,000 to $2.100,000. New homes have been built on the lot immediately down-gradient of the site.

The fracturing/injection wells are pre-drilled and pipes are set at selected depths prior to the arrival of the fracturing unit and the three-man installation team. The drilling and installation of the injection wells are the most disruptive part of BioLuxing. The compounds used in the treatment slurry, inoculation tanks and the fracturing equipment are set up outside traffic areas to reduce noise and disruption for customers and employees. The service station remained in operation as only half of an island at a time ever had to be closed. Minimal waste was generated at was treated on-site. Thirty-one fractures (BioLuxes) were installed around the south and west boundaries to ensure the BTEX contamination did not leave the property. Only surface-mounted well caps remain in sight and provide continuous access to the treatment system for the addition of nutrients and/or air. The system was successfully installed for one-fourth the cost of the next lowest estimate and one-thirteenth of the highest of 11 estimates for traditional cleanup methods. Another bonus—the operator of the station reported that he received record-high daily sales while the installation was in progress.