Beyond Environmental Revolutionizes Hydrocarbon Contamination Cleanup

Beyond Environmental has made bioremediation, or bio-cleaning, controllable by transforming the viscosity of the carrier from water to a gel that can stick to the surface on which it is working.

The existence of naturally occurring microbes that โ€œeatโ€ hydrocarbons has been known since the beginning of the 20th centuryโ€”but the microbes themselves have been doing their job consuming hydrocarbons for hundreds of millions of years. Yet the process โ€œin the wildโ€ can be unpredictable and subject to uncontrollable factors in nature. The concept of bioremediationโ€”that is, introducing these microbes to consume and break down longstanding hydrocarbon contamination and depositsโ€”is manโ€™s attempt to control the cleanup process.

Biological cleanup has usually involved using copious amounts of water. But much of the water will naturally flow away from the targeted area, so treatments need to be repeated time and time againโ€”a waste of time, money, and water. Beyond Environmental has made bioremediation, or bio-cleaning, controllable by transforming the viscosity of the carrier from water to a gel that can stick to the surface on which it is working. According to Bryan Sims, Beyond Environmental president and CEO, โ€œWe know that when bioremediation is controllable, itโ€™s more effective. Our iSorb Miotechnology makes that control possibleโ€”for the first time.โ€

Beyond Environmentalโ€™s proprietary iSorb Miotechnology is a patented formulation of safe-to-use, natural ingredients that transforms water into a highly controllable super-carrier known as iSorb MioGel. This โ€œsmart gelโ€ is stocked with trillions of hydrocarbon-consuming microbes, which are indigenous to North America, non-GMO, and listed as safe to use by the EPA. They feed on contamination and convert it to environmentally safe byproducts like water and carbon dioxide.

MioGel is uniquely formulated in variable, application-specific viscosities that can range from watery to semi-solid. This brings unprecedented control to the biological cleaning process, making it predictable, safe, and eco-friendly, even when applied to vertical surfacesโ€”a revolutionary development in contamination cleanup.

Beyond that, MioGel is customizable for each application with the correct balance of microbes blended to remediate deposits of petroleum hydrocarbons such as fuels, lubricating oils, and mineral oils. Further, specific blends can be formulated for volatiles and for aromatics. MioGels are cost-effective, environmentally safe, and remain in place and active at the point of contaminationโ€”the key to successful bio-cleaning.

The microbes that do the work need to be fed, sustained, and โ€œrecharged,โ€ and MioGels do just that. Each gel has cells or zones that act as tiny life-support systems. Within each zone, the contamination-destroying microbes receive supplies of water, food, and air at levels superior to what is possible with conventional water-based biological treatments. This equals sustainable biomass and allows the microbes to work together to accelerate and maintain high levels of cleaning power.

It is the variable viscosity and sustainable biomass of this โ€œsmart gelโ€ technology that differentiates it from traditional bio-cleaning treatments that use water as their delivery mechanism.

MioGels make bioremediation a viable solution for a full range of applications, such as removing hydrocarbons from drying bed walls, creosote from bridges, track ballast and soil; industrial maintenance; acting as a polish at the end of a cleanup; and going where itโ€™s impractical or harmful to use water.

Finally, MioGels are important to conservation efforts. No secondary contamination occurs because MioGel contains only natural ingredients, not surfactants and chemicals. Water isnโ€™t wasted because the ability of the MioGel to โ€œstick to the jobโ€ precludes the use of the repeated treatments that are often necessary with water-based carriers.

Beyond Environmentalโ€™s better-science approach is the safe, natural way to respond to hydrocarbon contamination. Its all-natural ingredients truly eliminate the contamination instead of flooding it out, only to end up somewhere else. The companyโ€™s iSorb Miotechnology helps protect the environment and public health, and mitigates the high costs associated with damage caused by petroleum hydrocarbon contamination.

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