A bioformula for hydrocarbon degradation, Microcat-XBS from the US company Bioscience, has been used to decontaminate soil collected from military bases in Iraq. The product, containing strains of naturally occurring bacteria, is specifically formulated to solve problems associated with spillage and other forms of contamination by petroleum hydrocarbons.  

According to Bioscience, several thousand pounds of Microcat-XBS have been used at a collection site designed for treatment of extracted soil. Additional instruction manuals on dealing with soil bioremediation and technical papers on the subject, as well as a guide to calculating the amount of biological additives required for the treatment of a given volume of soil, have been provided.

The decontamination method used in Camp Added, Talil AB Iraq, is known as spill farming, in which contaminated soil is piled in windrows and sprayed with water containing Microcat-XBS plus necessary nutrients. The windrows are turned mechanically to provide the aeration required for microbial growth and reduction of hydrocarbon content.

The product has been developed to contribute to the clean-up of spills of crude petroleum, gasoline and diesel fuel, machining oils, hydraulic fluids, solvents, monomers and petroleum derivatives like chlorinated organics.

(spill-international.com, Edited by Topco)