How new biotech can make repairs faster, cheaper and safer

Cultures are produced and distributed under the brand name DGG™ by a restoration company called SiREM. Toth says microbial culture technology could be a game-changer for the oil and gas industry and those responsible for environmental health and safety because it reduces costs and saves time. .

According to Toth, restoring and monitoring compromised sites requires a time-consuming and expensive process. “Cleaning the site reduces the time required for monitoring,” says Toth. “This is about protecting the health of the environment and protecting human health.

Canada has thousands of oil-contaminated sites, including over 10,000 abandoned oil wells in Alberta and Saskatchewan alone. “We hope that the number of sites that are actually cleaned up will increase,” Toth said, adding that BTEX hydrocarbons can easily spread to contaminate water sources, land and air. increase.

Microbial cultures are injected into the land approximately two meters below the surface using a special drilling rig. Anaerobic gas and anaerobic water are used to prime the land and displace oxygen. “What you can do in 15 minutes. It’s so fast. It takes longer to set up the equipment for the injection than the actual injection process,” he says.