The Emergency-Ready Green Tech for Remediating Oil Spills
When oil spills happen, an immediate response is necessary to mitigate the environmental impact, particularly the risk of contaminants seeping into the soil and groundwater. Iron Creek Group’s patented soil remediation technology is the most advanced and efficient way to restore terrestrial ecosystems in the industry.
Our Enhanced Thermal Conduction (ETC) soil remediation technology is streamlined and scalable, engineered to comply with the most stringent environmental standards in the world.
Why Nimble Oil Cleanup Operations Matter
When a disaster happens, every day counts — slow, traditional soil remediation just doesn’t cut it. When it comes to traditional soil remediation treatments for petroleum spills, it can take weeks for the organizations to truck in the heavy equipment required to treat the soil, and potentially even longer for the cleanup process to be operational.
In addition to a lack of speed and agility, remediation organizations with traditional ex situ and in situ technologies face a number of challenges that include staffing, safety and efficiency. Their traditional soil remediation technologies are not environmentally sustainable and they contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Essentially, solving one problem with the increased potential of secondary environmental issues that can cause long term liability for their clients.
Traditional Ex Situ Remediation Technologies
Traditional ex situ treatments require cumbersome, heavy equipment such as conveyor belts, large kilns and screens. Once the treatment technology is trucked in, it can take a week or more for the plant to be operational in order for oil-impacted soil remediation to begin.
When the process is finally underway, plants require 24/7 oversight to ensure the approved remediation processes are performed to treatment standards. A safety crew is also needed around the clock because the heavy equipment poses occupational hazards.
Unfortunately, traditional ex situ technology cannot treat every type of soil, resulting in up to 30% reject waste from each restoration project. The contaminated waste must be documented and reported to government agencies before being trucked and dumped in a landfill, increasing the time, energy, and money that project management has to invest in the remediation of the contaminated waste.
Not only are traditional ex situ processes more labor intensive, but they also increase liability and cost for both the client and the remediation specialists. The high probability of occupational hazards increases the cost of operations. There’s also a significant price associated with fueling the plant and the remediation of the oil-impacted soil.
Couple the costs of increased environmental liability from plant emissions with the liability of trucking hazardous waste off site to a landfill, and the risks of remediation increase. Not to mention the long-term contingent liability for both the client and the organization. At some point in the future, the hazardous reject material that the ex situ traditional technology could not treat is going to impact the environment and human health.
Traditional In Situ Remediation Technologies
In situ technology is another method companies adopt to remediate oil-impacted soil from spills. In situ is challenging because it only works well for certain soil types that are highly porous and maintain an appropriate amount of moisture.
Similarly to traditional ex situ methods, it can take weeks for in situ soil vapor extraction systems to be operational. These traditional in situ treatment methods require trucking in heavy equipment like earth drilling machines, piping, blowers, vapor and liquid separators, and vapor and liquid treatment systems.
Before the system is operational, ground teams must ensure strategic placement of the extraction well, injection well and air vent for effective remediation to begin. There are a number of variables that can prevent 100% soil remediation such as soil type, water table levels and soil moisture.
When soil samples from the treatment area show sufficient treatment, the process starts over by moving the in situ operation to an adjacent area to restore the soil. This method is inefficient as well as time-consuming; in places subject to cold winters treatment will have to be delayed until spring.
In situ methods to remediate oil-impacted soil also require petroleum-based fuel to power their operations, which increases greenhouse gas emissions. And since the process cannot treat 100% of the impacted soil, we once again run into the issue of reject waste from the treatment that needs to be trucked and dumped in a landfill, increasing contingent liability from trucking hazardous waste on public roadways.
Documentation and reporting are required, and there’s a risk of future remedial actions to address environmental or human health concerns that could arise as a result of landfill disposal.
Iron Creek Group’s Technology a Sound Solution
Iron Creek’s Enhanced Thermal Conduction (ETC) soil remediation process is superior to traditional ex situ and in situ soil remediation because it was designed to bridge the gaps that both technologies fail to address. ETC is the emergency-ready, green tech for remediating oil spills.
When clean up needs to have happened yesterday, ETC technology can be transported, assembled, and ready to remediate oil-impacted soil in just a few days — a fraction of the time it takes other methods. Only a small ground crew is needed to assemble the treatment cells and the work can be accomplished during the day, allowing teams to remotely watch operations at night.
Iron Creek’s patented nimble design of ETC soil remediation technology can treat difficult to maneuver, remote locations in mountainous regions, but it is also scalable and able to treat large swaths of contaminated land. The technology is durable, so it’s consistent and reliable in any kind of weather, even the extreme winter weather of the northern and southern hemispheres.
In addition to being an easily assembled technology with minimal components, the treatment system doesn't require the soil to be pre-screened because the science accommodates every soil type. The remediation process cleans 100% of contaminated soil without producing any waste which saves companies the cost of trucking and landfill disposal, and it reduces the overall liability of the remediation project.
The green design is engineered to use the petroleum from petroleum-impacted soils to fuel the treatment cells, making the process environmentally sustainable and greener than traditional options. This allows organizations to delist the waste from their books, reducing the required paperwork and reporting processes that regulatory bodies require from oil spill accidents.
When energy companies, transportation industries, governments and environmental agencies need a fast, nimble response to an oil spill cleanup — which should be the response to every oil spill cleanup — Iron Creek’s ETC soil remediation technology is emergency-ready to remediate current environmental damage and mitigate future hazards to the soil, groundwater, and human health.
About Iron Creek Group
Serving North America, Iron Creek Group is an award-winning, innovative thermal soil remediation company that specializes in the thermal treatment of the most difficult wastes in the most challenging locations. Founded in 2015 by a team of environmental experts with vast backgrounds in waste removal, recycling and soil remediation, the group specializes in alternative soil remedial technologies that are proven, predictable, environmentally-friendly and cost effective. Learn how they’re leveraging technology to challenge the existing thermal remediation paradigm by visiting, https://www.ironcreekgroup.com
For questions and further information, please email Ken Bell: ken@ironcreekgroup.com.