Global BioSciences, Inc
Products & Services Technology Licensing Science & Technology About Us GBI Partners


Groundwater Remediation

GBI provides patented technologies and services in the form of modular treatment systems, laboratory biofeasibility testing, small-scale field pilot testing and full-scale remediation design and implementation services. These technologies enhance natural attenuation by stimulating indigenous microorganisms. Inoculation or bioaugmentation methods are not employed at a test site.

Global BioSciences, Inc.®, has developed proprietary, reliable and cost-effective bioremediation technologies to clean up or remediate a variety of groundwater environmental pollutants such as chlorinated solvents, petroleum hydrocarbons, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), PCBs, pesticides, and PAHs.
Butane Biostimulation Technologies™ (Butane Biosparging™ for groundwater) are innovative and field-tested processes that stimulate bacterial metabolism and cometabolism of groundwater contaminants by injecting butane (or butane and air) into the contaminated area. Butane is the most soluble of the gaseous alkanes, having four times the solubility of methane, and more than twice that of propane. Butane Biostimulation Technologies™ are inexpensive compared to conventional technologies and result in contaminant destruction within the subsurface, thus eliminating the need for transfer media such as activated carbon.

The patented Butane Injection System™ is a safe and highly reliable delivery system that requires little maintenance and technician oversight. The use of butane to stimulate naturally occurring petroleum degrading bacteria is very safe. The Butane Injector 2000™ is approved with local fire departments (and Coast Guard) and complies with federal, state and local laws and regulations pertaining to compressed gas delivery and storage. Research conducted by the State of Florida DEP demonstrated that butane is non-toxic. Concentrations generated in the subsurface with the butane injector are less than 0.01% of the LEL for butane in air. In addition, butane is a general-purpose food additive and is used in the food processing industry to extract vital oils and flavors from a variety of food sources. It is also used as an aerosol propellant for health care products that contact the skin.

During the Butane Biosparging™ process, a Butane Injector 2000™ is designed to inject butane gas at a pre-determined volume into the flow stream of an air sparging well. The Butane Injector 2000™ pulses butane into the groundwater, thereby creating dissolved-phase concentrations up to 10 parts per million (ppm). The system has been designed so that the volume of gas can be varied, depending on the number of sparging wells being supplied, by adjusting the timing of the gas control valve and/or adjusting the flow through a variable orifice valve.

GBI has also developed and field-tested a portable butane treatment system. The portability or mobility allows GBI personnel to conduct hot-spot treatment and butane treatment at small release Sites. This new remediation flexibility allows GBI to conduct groundwater treatment in tightly settled or built-up areas by utilizing existing monitoring wells as butane injection wells. For hot-spot treatment, the mobile butane treatment system will significantly lower capital costs for injection well installation.