Description
RBC 400 is capable of biodegrading a wide variety of organic contaminants found in many types of industrial waste water and hydrocarbon contaminated soils. This includes most aliphatic and aromatic petroleum hydrocarbons not readily degraded by conventional treatment. The mixture contains a number of microbial strains with the ability to degrade hydrocarbons, substituted hydrocarbons, phenolic compounds, TPH, DRO, ketones, fatty acids, surfactants, and a variety of organic compounds. The RBC 400 microbial activity is also designed to increase the rate of BOD, COD and TOC removal.
Petroleum oil is toxic for most life forms and a cause of pollution in the environment, which leads to major ecological problems. Many hydrocarbon‐contaminated environments are characterized by low or elevated temperatures, acidic or alkaline pH, high salt concentrations or high pressure. Hydrocarbon‐degrading microorganisms adapted to grow and thrive in these environments play an important role in the biological treatment of polluted extreme habitats. The biodegradation of a wide range of hydrocarbons, including aliphatic, aromatic, halogenated and nitrated compounds has been shown to occur in various extreme habitats with selected highly adapted bacteria cultures.
RBC 400 is a proprietary formulation of selected microorganisms capable of degrading alkyl and poly aromatic hydrocarbons. The bacteria can function at moderate up to high salinity environments. The bacterial consortium contained in RBC 400 is highly efficient in degrading petroleum oil and is highly adaptable and versatile in extreme conditions, coping well with high concentrations of sodium ions for the bioremediation of oil‐polluted soils, marshes and industrial waste waters contaminated by aromatic hydrocarbons or chlorinated hydrocarbons. The bacteria in RBC 400 are hydrocarbon clastic organisms, which means they can divide something in parts, in this case hydrocarbons, which they can then metabolise or mobilise to make available to the indigenous microflora. The majority of microorganisms in remediation products predominantly use sugars and simple organic carbon molecules or amino acids for their source of carbon and energy. By contrast, cultures selected for inclusion in RBC 400 include bacterial strains capable of metabolising just alkanes, others with the ability to split polyaromatic rings, and fungi to degrade complex hydrocarbons and reduce metal toxicity.
The use of RBC 400 for the biodegradation of hydrocarbons with low water solubility has been proven to work effectively within a broad spectrum of temperatures and environmental conditions. The microorganisms present in RBC 400 produce bio‐surfactants which also aid the process of degradation. The production of bio‐surfactants which create the ability to reduce surface and interfacial tensions make them suitable for environmental applications where hydrophobic compounds are concerned. The biodegradability and lower toxicity of bio‐ surfactants compared to chemical surfactants is ecologically valuable. The production of bio‐ surfactants produced by the bacteria cultures in RBC 400 produces an extra layer of material (rhamnolipid) that forms along the cell membrane. Furthermore, they are also emulsifiers, which serve to create the oil/water emulsion, thus making oil more soluble. The bio‐surfactants produced by the bacteria in RBC 400 form a biofilm around oil droplets in seawater or high salinity environments, which then proceed to use the bio‐surfactants and metabolism to degrade the oil into a water‐soluble substance. Bio‐surfactant production is also an essential property for soil washing applications since hydrocarbons can be physically removed from soil particulates to be later treated in the aqueous phase (by biological, chemical or physical methods)
