Bioreactor Formula
for
Waste Stream Elimination Process

 

   A Texas City Oil Company Project / August 1998

August 11: Meetings with ABC Oil personnel, Jack Campbell of Garner, and  a Verde Environmental representative to go through process of cleaning two heat exchangers with a Micro-Blaze™ formulation.

August 12: ABC let Garner have the exchangers at 11:00 am, and we began filling the shell and tube side of both heat exchangers. Both heat exchangers were filled at 4:30 pm. We let them sit overnight with high point bleeders open for oxygen.

August 13: 8:00 am: We circulated the shell side until 9:00 am. From 9:15 - 10:30 am we circulated the tube side. From 10:45 - 11:45 am we circulated the shell side a second time. From 12:00 noon - 1:00 pm we circulated the tube side for a second time. We then drained the shell and tube sides letting the 6% solution run off into ABC's drainage system. At this point we cleaned the vacuum truck out and filled it with de-mineralized water, and rinsed the shell and tube side of both heat exchangers and gave them back to ABC Oil. The flushing took about three hours.

August 17: Jack Campbell contacted ABC Oil representatives and found out that the project was determined to be extremely successful. The cleaning process dropped the DP (Differential Pressure) from 130 to 40, and increased the heat transfer by 18%. An ABC Oil representative commented that the results were as if the unit had been hydroblasted.

August 19: The ABC Oil company representative told us they ran a test to confirm that the Micro-Blaze formulation was safe to send to the wastewater treatment plant.

Results of Test:

  • Eliminated waste stream - no disposal
  • Eliminated removal of heat exchanger heads and bundles
  • Eliminated hydrostatic testing
  • Reduced workplace risk exposure
  • Cut costs in half Downtime reduced to approximately 24 hours.
  • Dropped LEL and BTEX levels to zero  

The Heat Exchanger Cleaning and
Waste Stream Elimination System

An in situ method eliminates organic and hydrocarbon based hazardous material from a process vessel by converting the process vessel containing the organic or hydrocarbon based hazardous material into an in situ bioreactor.

The bioreactor is charged with a Micro-Blaze bioreactor formulation containing a bioremediation effectiveness agent to provide a reaction medium within the process vessel. The organic or hydrocarbon based hazardous materials are reacted with the reaction medium to bioremediate the materials and produce a non-hazardous waste containing the bioremediation products of the organic and hydrocarbon based material.

Removal of the non-hazardous waste from the bioreactor/process vessel accomplishes the removal of the organic or hydrocarbon material from the process vessel without generating a hazardous waste stream that can be disposed of in a typical waste water plant.

Comparison of Heat Exchanger Cleaning Methods
Methods Generally Used to Clean Various Process Vessels;
Not All Methods May Be Applicable to All Vessels

 Method:

  Hazardous Waste Generated?

 Vessel Disassembly Required?

 In Situ Bioreaction

NO

NO

Chemical Flushing  

YES  

NO 

 Blasting

YES  

PARTIAL to FULL 

Baking 

YES  

  FULL

 

 

 Benefits of In Situ Bioremediation
 Non-Destructive: Does not etch or pit surfaces as it works; nor cause irregularities in the vessel surfaces it contacts that can become points of flow wear of loci of material deposition.
 Inerting Feature: Immediately reduces ignition hazard by "inerting" flammable organics and hydrocarbons on contact by emulsifying and breaking the material, increases solubility, allowing microbe to better digest materials and break (aromatic and benzene) ring structures.
 Non-Flammable;    Non-Corrosive: Does not increase ignition risk or provide fuel; has a pH of approximately neutral.
 Minimal Disposal Burden: Not a hazardous waste; may be disposed of directly into a plant's water treatment facility.
Elimination of Cradle to Grave Liability: Does not generate a reportable waste; does not give rise to this judicially mandated liability.
 Active Component is EPA-NCP listed: Eligible for listing as Bioremediation Effectiveness Agent in category (d), bioremediation agents.
 Less Costly: Estimated cost of method is generally half the cost of prior methods for the same tasks (e.g., heat exchanger and tower maintenance).
Waste Water Treatment Plant Compatible: Microbe content of the resultant non-hazardous waste from the method actually enhances a waste water treatment plant's operation; bioremediates sewer lines, will not shock plant's microbe population; eliminates hydrocarbon odors.

 

 

 Risk Factor Estimation
Additional Risk for Removing Organic and Hydrocarbon Waste from a
Process Vessel (e.g. Heat Exchanger) Over Ordinary Tasks on the Plant Floor

  Method:

Risk:

 In Situ
Bioreacting:

Chemical
Flush:

 Blasting:

  Baking:

Uses Heavy Equipment?

NO

 NO

 YES

 YES

Uses Hazardous Material?

 NO

 YES

  SOMETIMES

 NO

Requires
Special Protective Gear? 

NO

YES  

YES 

YES  

Generates
Hazardous Waste? 

NO  

YES  

YES  

 YES

Special Hazard? 

NONE

Chemical
Exposure 

Can involve extreme high pressure water  

 Heat 

Estimated Added Risk Factor

NONE 

3

3.5  

2  

 

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