Executive Summary

Humber College Institute of Technology is involved with a lot of activities that are likely to bring about pollution. This is not favorable for the environment hence there is need to adopt a technology that will help deal with the contaminants involved. Bioremediation would be a favorable environmental technology to use in this case. The technology works in a way that certain organisms found in the soil help in eliminating the relevant contaminants. They feed on these contaminants, which act as their source of food and energy. The contaminants are then converted to less harmful substances like ethane, carbon dioxide and water. Among the benefits that Humber College might derive by using this technology is that it is a natural process, low capital expenditure involved, minimal energy required, less manual supervision among others. Despite this, the technology has its shortcomings like the amount of time it takes to clean up a site. However, the benefits outweigh the costs hence Humber College should not be deterred from adopting the technology.

1.Introduction

There are several activities in Humber College that lead to pollution. This includes dumping of waste products by students and other staff members without the thought of the effects it would cause. There are designated areas where these wastes ought to be disposed, but not everyone seems to be doing the right thing. People are always different, and you would think that everything will act in a rational manner, but most of the times this is not the case. Use of petroleum products within the school environment also leads to pollution. This includes oil, grease and other petroleum products. There is presence of various machineries within the college vicinity. They range from automobile (of different types) to machineries used to make work easy while executing various tasks.  The systems used by engineering students also make use of various petroleum products. The usage of petroleum products within the school environment means that there is going to spillage from time to time. These forms of spillage are not favorable to the environment. More so, its effects tend to vary based on where the spillage takes place. Petroleum products are known to have the ability of sucking the oxygen in the surrounding area hence making it difficult for organisms within these areas to thrive. There is need to use a technology that will help in elimination of the toxic substances arising as a result of spillage. Bioremediation can be considered as a favorable option.

2. Bioremediation

It is an environmental technology used to mitigate pollution that is prevalent in a certain site. The technology uses micro-organisms to help clean up the contaminated soil. The organisms involved use these contaminants as the source of energy and food. On most occasions, the contaminants that are treated using this technology are the ones involving pesticides, solvents and petroleum products (Singh & Ward, 2013).

2.1 How the Technology Works

The technology involves microbes that eat and digest contaminants found in the soil around a given area. The contaminants are converted to less harmful gases such as ethane and carbon dioxide. In some cases the contaminants can be converted to small amounts of water. If the soil involved does not contain sufficient microbes, the process of “bioaugmentation” can be used to add some (Singh & Ward, 2013).In order for bioremediation to work effectively, there is need to have the appropriate nutrients, food and temperature. Presence of appropriate conditions allows the microbes to develop and multiply hence gaining the ability to eat more contaminants. When the conditions are not favorable the microbes will develop at a very slow rate. To some extent they even end up dying, which would mean that the contaminants will not be cleaned up. Conditions necessary for them to thrive can be improved by adding various household items such as vegetable oil, molasses and other chemicals with the ability of producing oxygen. These “amendments” can be added ‘in situ’ (in place) or ‘ex situ’ (above ground) (Nathanson & Schneider, 2014). Occasions which trigger them to be added above ground are when the temperature is extremely cold or the soil is dense to an extent that it cannot allow the amendments to spread.

Source: United States Environmental Protection Agency

2.2 How long it takes

The period that this technology takes to work effectively is dependent on several factors. It can take a few months while in some circumstances it can take several years for the microbes to clean up a given site. Factors that may result into bioremediation taking longer includes when the concentrations of the contaminants are high.  It will also take long when they are trapped in areas that are hard to reach like dense soil and rock fractures (Nathanson & Schneider, 2014). The technology will also take long if the area involved is large or the clean up takes place ‘ex situ’. Other conditions such as microbe population, nutrients and temperature must be modified for it to take a less period.

3. Benefits that will accrue to Humber College for using the Technology

Humber College stands to gain in several ways if it embraces this technology. Among the benefits it will accrue is that it will minimize other forms of pollution like air and noise pollution. This is because bioremediation entails a natural process that makes use of natural resources. This means that there will not exist aspects of toxic substances being released in the process of trying to get rid of the others.

Another benefit likely to accrue to the institution is that this technology is safe. It relies on micro-organisms that exist naturally in the soil. These microbes do not pose any threat to the community or the people at the site. The microbes added by way of ‘bioaugmediation’ tend to die off once the contamination has been eliminated (Nathanson & Schneider, 2014). Chemicals used for the purpose of stimulating bioremediation are also safe. This means that they will not pose any hazardous implications.

Another benefit that Humber College will have is that toxic substances will be destroyed. The organisms involved consume these contaminants as their source of food. This makes the technology superior to other traditional methods that exist. Most of them use the aspect of separating the contaminants, but do not destroy them completely. This is a shortcoming since the contaminants might find themselves in other unwanted areas (Sharma, 2012). As a result, bioremediation becomes more favorable in dealing with the problem entirely.

Bioremediation also entails low capital expenditure hence it will bring cost effectiveness to the institution. Compared to other forms of waste management that can be used, the technology can be considered to be cheap. Most of the microbes involved exist naturally hence there is no cost incurred while developing them. Activities undertaken to increase their population are also cost effective. This is because they make use of products that are readily available at the household level. There are no transportation costs for the waste materials from one point to another since they are consumed by the microbes.

The technology also saves a lot of time and manual labor. This is because it does not require manual supervision. Once the conditions have been made favorable for the microbes to operate, everything else takes care of itself. Humber College would save a significant amount in terms of manual supervision (Sharma, 2012).

4. Arguments against its Adoption

Despite the technology having the ability to bring various benefits to the institution, there exists some shortcomings that might build a case against it. Among the shortcomings of bioremediation is that it is slow (Sharma, 2012). It can take months if the contaminations involved are large in number. There are other methods available out there that can be able to accomplish the task within a short period.

Another disadvantage is that the technology will not be able to remove heavy metals that are part of the waste contamination. This means that it will be restricted to elimination of specified pollutants only. This might result to increased costs since other methods will be required for the pollutants that cannot be eliminated.

5. Conclusion

Bioremediation is an environmental technology that would work to help Humber college deal with pollutants on the soil. It has its own shortcomings, but the benefits that come with it are more compared to these shortcomings. It is a natural process that is very effective in cleaning up sites. It does not require much labor, energy and equipment. Compared to other methods it is cheaper to implement. Adoption of this technology will bring a whole new experience to the institution.

References

Nathanson, J., & Schneider, R. (2014). Basic environmental technology: Water supply, waste        management, and pollution control (Sixth ed.). New York: Springer Science & Business         Media.

Sharma, S. (2012). Bioremediation: Features, Strategies and applications. Asian Journal of            Pharmacy and Life Science, 2(2), 202-213.

Singh, A., & Ward, O. (2013). Biodegradation and Bioremediation. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Bioremediation: Microbes Cleaning Up the Environment. (2013). Retrieved November 19, 2015, from http://study.com/academy/lesson/bioremediation-microbes-cleaning-up-the-environment.html