Frequently Asked Questions
What do Alabaster Microbial Products
Do?
The company produces and develops bioremediation chemicals and materials.
These materials are designed as a two part system consisting of live, “oil eating”
microbes and an advancement solution. The advancement solutions are a combination
of chemicals designed to break down the hydrocarbons for ingestion by the microbes
and to promote a proper biological environment for the microbes to flourish.
When properly applied, the hydrocarbons are reduced to harmless fatty acids,
carbon dioxide and water.
Back to Top
What is a surfactant and how is
it a part of your system?
A surfactant breaks down the surface tension of the hydrocarbon
molecules so that they are more conducive to microbial degradation. A surfactant
can be a natural or synthetic chemical that promotes the wetting, solubilization,
and emulsification of various types of organic chemicals.
What are nutrients?
Nutrients, sometimes called biocatalysts. These include product
materials which support the stimulation and growth or reproduction of microbes.
They are like steroids to microbes. Alabaster Microbial Products contain powerful
nutrients or biocatalysts.
What is an emulsifier?
An emulsifier is a material which suspends a finely divided oily
or resinous liquid in another liquid.
What is a microbe?
It is a microscopic organism or bacteria. Alabaster microbes are
found naturally throughout the world in the environment. We choose our microbes
based on their affinity for various hydrocarbons. The microbial blends are cultured
to degrade hydrocarbons.
Back to Top
What kind of microbes are in Alabaster
Microbial Products?
Bacillus spores which are natural, non-pathogenic microbes. Upon application
onto a spill or contaminated soil, they germinate and become active within minutes.
In good conditions, they multiply exponentially within minutes. These begin
to digest the wastes as long as all the necessary ingredients (water, oxygen
and a food source) are present. Byproducts of their degradation process are
CO2, water, and trace amounts of organic salts.
How many microbes are there per
gallon of Alabaster Microbial Products?
Some of our liquid products contain pre-added microbes. Other products
do not contain microbes but are designed to have microbes in a powdered matrix
added when applied. Of the products with pre-added microbes, there are 17 different
strains at a concentration of approximately 200 billion microbes per gallon.
Alabaster quality control ensures our customers of plenty of viable microbes
in a quality product that will work to bioremediation organic and hydrocarbon
contaminants.
Are Alabaster Microbial Products
on any kind of “approved” list with government agencies?
Our Petro-Clean Emergency Response Solution® is on the U.S.EPA National
Contingency Plan (NCP) as a surface-cleaning agent. Petro-Clean Emergency Response
Solution® is also listed with the U.S. Dept. of Defense, and NASA. Petro-Clean
Emergency Response Solution® is on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's
NCP Product Schedule. Sea-BRAT® is also on the U.S.EPA National Contingency
Plan (NCP) as a dispersant. These listings do NOT mean that EPA approves, recommends,
licenses, certifies, or authorizes the use of Petro-Clean Emergency Response
Solution® or Sea-BRAT® on an oil discharge. This listing means only that data
have been submitted to EPA as required by subpart J of the National Contingency
Plan, Sec. 300.915.
Back to Top
What are the differences between
microbial products and enzyme products?
Enzymes will only liquefy a waste; they do not “digest” waste. All
an enzyme will do is change the form of the waste. Microbes produce their own
enzymes, which help the microbe to digest the waste, changing it into harmless
byproducts of carbon dioxide and water. You can have an enzyme product without
microbes. Some microbial products contain vegetative microbes that do not have
the ability to revert to a “spore” form when conditions are not favorable. Alabaster
microbes revert into a spore or seed form and will re-activate when conditions
are ideal. For instance once a food source is present the microbes will become
active again and start digesting wastes and pollution.
Will these microbes harm our wetlands?
The Bacillus spores are already present in most soils and waterways
of wetlands. They are tolerant of both seawater and brackish water and work
in a pH range of 4.0 to 11.5.
If they are already in the wetlands,
why not use the existing microbes there to clean up any contamination?
The indigenous, or existing, microbes are like those already existing in most
wetlands. They are found digesting the typical flora and fauna found wetlands.
When hydrocarbons enter a wetlands the microbes present are neither in large
enough numbers to start digesting the influx of material nor are they adapted
to digesting that particular type of waste. They either die off from the volume
and toxicity of the contamination or become so reduced in number that it could
take years before the surviving populations of bacteria become large enough
and acclimated enough to start effectively remediating the waste. In the meantime,
the pollution could percolate through the soils into a drinking water supply.
Will the microbes eat my asphalt
roadway?
No. Due to the density of the material on a road or paved surface, it would
take a very, very long time before anything occurred. The hydrocarbons or other
chemicals left on the roadway are much more cause for concern; they can pit
and deteriorate the road surface quickly.
Back to Top
Will the microbes mutate?
No. Alabaster Microbial Products contain naturally occurring microbial species.
These are not genetically engineered microbes.
Will the Petro-Clean kill my grass?
No.
Are your products corrosive?
No. The pH of the products is 7.8. The microbes work in situations where the
pH can range from 4.5 to 11.5 – a greater range of viability than with other
microbial products.
Will the microbes eat dirt or
metal?
No, only organic materials.
How long does it take the microbes
to eat a gallon of oil?
It all depends on surface conditions, oxygen, water and nutrients.
If it is in a gallon bucket, it will take a very long time (unless you have
aeration equipment, plenty of water and have monitoring for nutrients). If it
is spread thin, like a roadway, it may be digested in a short time as long as
conditions are good.
Will the microbes eat my oil reserves
in the ground?
No. The microbes do not have enough oxygen or water in pure oil.
Since they are present in soils worldwide, and they do not digest oil now, they
still will not if they seep into oil holding areas.
On what types of compounds will
Alabaster Microbial Products work?
Some of the many compounds successfully remediated with Alabaster Microbial Products:
Acetone and paint sludge
Amines
AN (acrylonitrile)
Aviation Fuels
Benzene and related benzene compounds (BTEX)
Break Fluids
Chlorinated Hydrocarbons
Creosote
Crude Oils
Diesel
DMF (dimethylformanide)
Fats
Gasoline
Glycols
Grease
Heating Oils
Hydraulic Fluids
Kerosene
Lubricating Oils
Marine Fuels
Methanol
MTBE
Organic chemical waste
Paraffins and Waxes
Petroleum based waste products
Pipeline and Tower condensations
Polyurethane resin wastes
Sludge
Solvents
Sulphur Containing Compounds
Got another question?
Click here to send us an e-mail!
Back to Top