Visit Virotec Global Solutions at WasteMINZ 2011 with New Zealand strategic partner, Prime Environmental Solutions from today until Friday October 7th, 2011.
You’ll find us at Stand 20 at the Energy Event Centre, Rotorua.
Pop by to chat to Peter, Daniel and Gisela at New Zealand’s largest waste conference.
For more information visit wasteminz.org.nz
Read more →This month Virotec features in The Mining Chronicle for the recent achievement at the Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards (Winner – Environmental Management – July 2011).
Having operated on the Gold Coast for over 10 years, Virotec Global Solutions has taken out the Environmental Management award at the Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards today. Recognised for their sustainable contribution to the environment, impressive client list and tangible results, Virotec General Manager, Daniel Blair credits the success to the ingenuity of the company’s technologies, which have been implemented worldwide.
Daniel Blair, General Manager of Virotec, collects the award.
Full media release: Virotec Wins at the Gold Coast Business Awards.
Read more →A new series of five research studies have been published in refereed journals in the United Kingdom, including Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Environmental Science and Technology, and Journal of Hazardous Materials that investigates the properties of Virotec’s Bauxsol Raw Material (“BRM”) in relation to concrete, bricks and other cementitious applications
“These studies are an important addition to our understanding of the enormously important properties of our platform technology based on BRM,” said Dr Lee Fergusson, Virotec’s Chief Executive Officer. “This series of published studies advances our knowledge of what is possible in the areas of concrete, bricks manufacture, silage bins, the binding of radioactive isotopes, and other potential applications for our technology. We intend to fully explore the commercial opportunities which can be developed as a result of this new information.”
Various industrial by-products, such as fly ash, ground granulated blast-furnace slag and silica fume, have been used in concrete to improve its properties. BRM is available in large quantities throughout the world and is used commercially in the manufacture of Virotec’s 15 branded reagents for various environmental remediation applications. However, other commercial applications exist for BRM.
For example, one of the studies published in Concrete and Concrete Composites showed that the properties of concrete containing BRM indicate that BRM can be used to replace sand in cement to improve the durability properties of concrete without detrimentally affecting their physical properties. Combining these beneficial effects with environmental remediation applications, the researchers concluded that there are specific applications where concretes containing BRM could be used.
A second study published in Biosystems Engineering investigated the beneficial properties of BRM in farm production of silage as a winter-feed supplement. The bins in which silage is produced are subject to acidic and microbial attacks. Both types of attack can lead to a weakening and failure of the concretes used in the bins, especially on the outer lip of the open side of the silage pit. Consequently, the development of an acid-resistant concrete that can extend the lifespan of silage bins on farms could lead to considerable cost savings for farmers and hence can improve farm productivity. The study reports on an investigation into the behaviour of concrete containing BRM exposed to sulphuric acid in silage effluents. Results indicate that the use of BRM as a replacement material improved the behaviour of concrete in sulphuric acid in the silage effluent, providing an extended service life over conventional concretes used in silage pits.
Among the most exciting development in the light of recent events in Japan were reported in the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science investigated the reversibility of thorium (Th) binding onto BRM under different pH ranges. Natural Th232 isotopes were contacted with BRM then leached in pH-dependent studies where the pH was decreased over several hours following addition of Th232. Relative concentrations of the thorium isotope pair indicates that Th is strongly bound to BRM, and although at pH 3.0 some desorption is observed Th232 (3%) and Th229 (2.5%), released thorium is partially re-adsorbed during short-term equilibration.
“We are encouraged that researchers around the world have found our technology continues to provide valuable new research opportunities,” said Dr Fergusson. “As we have proven over the last ten years, Virotec has been extremely successful in commercializing environmental technology applications, and our track record of success in taking technologies to market will no doubt apply to this new research.”
Read more →Virotec Global Solutions Pty Ltd is pleased to announce that the ten-year technical report of Virotec written by Dr Lee Fergusson for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has been featured on the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate web site.
Dr Fergusson, Virotec’s chief executive officer, commented that “the document forms part of the ATF-06-3 project on the ‘Management of Bauxite Residues’ for the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism (DRET) of the Commonwealth Government of Australia, and represents partial completion of Item 11 in the Schedule of Contract for the Provision of Services No. 2490. As such it also represents part of the overall commitment of the Australian Government towards the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate as it relates to the management and reuse of caustic alumina refinery residues.”
The purpose of the report was twofold: firstly, to present a technical and operational overview of the technologies of Virotec, including commercial development pathways and case examples of applications; and secondly, to provide an overview of environmental and waste treatment problems in the Asia-Pacific region. Since 2000, Virotec has researched, developed and commercialised a range of technically engineered environmental and industrial waste solutions.
In order to chronicle the ten-year commercial trajectory of Virotec, the report explores the operational, commercial, and technical origins of the company, highlighting early successes and research. The document charts the steps Virotec has taken to move beyond R&D into successful business operations. At the heart of the document, a number of intractable environmental problems and case studies have been examined, which together summarise the various industrial and municipal applications of Virotec’s four main technologies. A summary of other industrial areas of developmental interest to Virotec have also been explored, along with the main types and volumes of waste generated by or currently stockpiled in Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, South Korea and the United States of America (members of the Asia-Pacific Partnership), and projects the volumes of chemical reagents that would be required to effectively treat the vast quantities of waste in those countries.
Dr Fergusson concluded that “this document affords a technical and operational insight into a successful environmental technology company. At a time when governments and industry are seeking ways to both reduce and reuse solid industrial waste for environmental and social benefit, this document provides valuable information on how this can be effectively achieved.”
Read more →Virotec Global Solutions is pleased to announce that it has recently entered into a significantly large contract with a company regarded as an industry leader in the building and construction services area in Australia to apply its ViroSoil™ Technology to treat in excess of 5,000 tonnes of contaminated soil at a disused manufacturing site in South Australia.
Further to the Virotec news announcement of April 13th, 2010, at which time Virotec announced the launch of its breakthrough ViroSoil™ method for treating persistent organic pollutants (POPs), Virotec is now pleased to inform relevant parties that it has secured this latest contract pursuant to its efforts to expand its business into chlorinated hydrocarbon treatment.
Mrs. Gisela Barros, Virotec’s business development manager for the new technological soil treatment, explained that “previous laboratory test work performed by Virotec on samples provided confirmed the new ViroSoil™ Technology’s ability to reduce tetrachloroethylene (also called perchloroethylene or PCE) concentrations in the contaminated soil site. The treatment report provided by Virotec showed that the total concentration of PCE in the contaminated soil was reduced from 3,000 mg/kg to > 3. mg/kg and leachate for PCE dropped from 0.7 mg/L to <0.005 mg/L as a result of our treatment. It was on this demonstrable basis of success that we were in a position to secure the current contract.”
As has been the case with other large-scale projects recently completed by Virotec, elements of this project will be carried out by our partner. For example, the technology solution and project management of the contaminated soil treatment at the above mentioned disused Hills Industries site will be provided by Virotec, with aspects of the physical treatment and disposal being carried out by our partner.
This project is one of the first applications of its type in Australia, and we expect there to be more such projects emerging in the future now that there is a viable, cost-effective and sustainable way to treat POPs.
Read more →Virotec Global Solutions is pleased to announce the release of a new environmental and waste treatment product called “ViroBac™”. ViroBac™ is a unique biological formulation designed to treat alkanic hydrocarbons in soil, water and industrial solids, and has been used by Virotec for the past two years in large-scale field trials and commercial applications. ViroBac™ joins the other 17 unique products in Virotec’s comprehensive suite of chemical reagents.
ViroBacTM has application in all four of Virotec’s environmental treatment technologies. For example, in ViroSoil Technology, ViroBacTM can be used with rapid sequestro-degradation (RSD) to treat hydrocarbon-contaminated soil, where petroleum, diesel, lubricants and other fugitive hydrocarbon wastes have entered the soil column due to poor industrial practices or by accident or leakage. The addition of ViroBacTM quickly destroys the hydrocarbon contaminants, achieving outstanding results in record time due to the unique properties of ViroBacTM. Where this process would take months or even years using conventional technology, RSD with ViroBacTM achieves the result in weeks.
Similarly, ViroBacTM can be used in ViroFlow Technology applications to destroy hydrocarbons in contaminated industrial sludges and wastewater. Ninety-five percent reductions or more of contaminants in a matter of weeks is not uncommon, and this is achieved via a safe, passive method of treatment with minimal human intervention.
Danial Blair, Virotec’s General Manager, stated “ViroBacTM is a unique formulation of heterotrophic microorganisms, essentially an inoculum of safe bacteria which devour the carbon in industrial hydrocarbons. The addition of ViroBacTM to contaminated soil, liquids and industrial solids, such as sludges and sediments, means that Virotec now has a viable way to quickly treat alkanic hydrocarbons.”
One of the most significant features of ViroBacTM, Mr Blair went on to explain, is that it works effectively in aerobic, anaerobic and facultative environments. This means that irrespective of whether the contaminant is in an environment which contains a lot of oxygen, such as in a liquid or wastewater, little oxygen or no oxygen at all, for example, deep within the ground, ViroBacTM will work equally well. “These remarkable features of ViroBacTM make it a valuable addition to our arsenal of chemical and biological reagents, and we are looking forward to applying the reagent in many more industrial applications,” stated Mr Blair.
Read more →Virotec Global Solutions is pleased to announce the results of trials held in the United Kingdom by Newcastle-based Graphite Resources Limited (www.graphiteresources.com). “Graphite Resources measured the effects of Virotec’s ElectroBind™ reagent to reduce volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in industrial gas emissions. The independent trials demonstrated that ElectroBind™ was effective in reducing the level of VOCs in gas emissions from 730 parts per million down to 140 parts per million, an 81% reduction.”
Dr Lee Fergusson, Virotec’s Chief Executive Officer, stated “this is the first time ElectroBind™ has been used to measure VOC reduction in industrial gas or vapour. We know that our technology reduces mercury, hydrogen sulphide, carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide in industrial emissions, and reduces arsenic and selenium in flue gas desulfurisation scrubbing systems in power plants, but this is the first time we have proof that ElectroBind™ significantly reduces VOCs. We believe that with further modification of the scrubbing system used in the trial we will achieve VOC reduction levels of greater than 95%, which is good news for both industry and the environment.”
Volatile organic compounds are organic chemical compounds which exist at specific vapor pressures and which can affect the environment and human health. VOCs are numerous, varied, and ubiquitous. Although VOCs include both man-made and naturally occurring chemical compounds, it is the anthropogenic or man-made VOCs that are of the greatest concern and which are the most tightly regulated. Volatile organic compounds are typically not acutely toxic, but have chronic effects.
Emissions of VOCs, such as benzene from oil refineries and chemical plants, pose a long-term health risk to workers and local communities. In situations where large amounts of flammable liquids and gases are contained under pressure, fugitive emissions also increase the risk of fire and explosion. Volatile organic compounds include aliphatic hydrocarbons, ethyl acetate, glycol ethers, and acetone. Many building materials, such as paints, adhesives, wall boards, and ceiling tiles, slowly emit formaldehyde, which irritates the mucous membranes.
Some of the health effects caused by exposure to VOCs include eye, nose, and throat irritation, headaches, loss of coordination and nausea, and damage to the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system. Some VOCs cause cancer in animals and some are suspected or known to cause cancer in humans. The ability of VOCs to cause adverse health effects varies greatly from those that are highly toxic to those with no known health effects.
“We intend to conduct more sophisticated laboratory trials and full-scale field trials of ElectroBind™ at oil refineries and chemical plants to develop this application further,” stated Dr Fergusson. “As industrialised countries generate and discharge large volumes of VOCs (for example almost 1.0 million tonnes in Canada and more than half a million tonnes in Japan and South Korea are generated each year), developing a cost-effective method for significantly reducing VOCs is a major development for Virotec, which the company intends to fully exploit.”
Read more →“On October 4th, 2010, a large tailings dam in the town of Ajka, Hungary containing highly caustic alumina refinery residue (“red mud”) breached its northern wall and spilled approximately 700,000 tonnes of red mud over a 40 square kilometre area, much of it 2.0 metres deep in Kolontar, killing ten people and hospitalising another 120.” The risk, although now abating, includes the possibility of the mud reaching and polluting the Danube River, one of Europe’s most important waterways.
As The Australian newspaper reported on October 6th, “the government has declared a state of emergency in three western counties most damaged by the poisonous flood from a reservoir at an aluminium plant that broke its walls on Monday, and labelled the disaster a ‘catastrophe’”. As Dr Lee Fergusson, Virotec’s Chief Executive Officer stated “this disaster will unfortunately have long-lasting impacts on the people and environment of Hungary, and Virotec expresses its deepest sympathy to the people of Kolontar affected by this tragic event.”
Virotec has been working with alumina refineries in many countries for the past ten years to deploy its Basecon Technology, which neutralises alumina refinery red mud and converts it into a benign and safe material. Red mud typically has a pH of more than 12.5 and high levels of total alkalinity, mostly in the form of sodium hydroxide. This combination means that the red mud is a classified “hazardous” waste in the European Union, and its management and safe storage is tightly controlled around the world. It is the highly corrosive nature of red mud which has caused so much damage in Hungary, resulting in serious burns and even death. Basecon Technology reduces the pH of red mud to <10.5, and also reduces total alkalinity, which is the source of the mud’s dangerous corrosiveness, from around 7,000 parts per million to less than 500 parts per million.
Given that 150 million tonnes of red mud is produced and stored each year, and more than 2.5 billion tonnes of the hazardous mud is in stockpile worldwide, there is a clear need to find suitable and sustainable ways to neutralise the high caustic component of this material.
Dr Fergusson concluded by saying that “Virotec is therefore pleased to announce that it has been working closely for the last two weeks with a dredging and engineering company in Europe through its UK affiliate, Virotec Europe Ltd, to provide the Hungarian Government with an effective solution for treating the remaining 1.0 million tonnes of red mud still in the tailings dam, but which also threaten release causing further downstream social and environmental destruction. As these initiatives come to fruition, Virotec will keep the market informed of any outcomes in Hungary.”
Read more →Virotec Global Solutions today entered into an agreement to conduct one of its largest environmental remediation projects to date: the demolition, sorting, treatment and disposal of mercury contaminated waste at a large recently closed industrial site owned by PaperlinX in Australia. The project, which begins in late September and will be completed by late November, will involve Virotec sub-contracting a portion of the demolition and asbestos treatment and removal work to McMahon Services of South Australia (www.mcmahon-services.com.au ).
Daniel Blair, Virotec’s General Manager explained that “we conducted a water treatment project at the site in 2003-2004, and have now been engaged to complete the larger task of demolishing the contaminated sections of the building, excavating concrete and disused tanks, carefully sorting all forms of waste, which includes concrete, steel, timber, bricks, soil and other contaminated solids, pulverising concrete and bricks on site, and then treating the waste solids, as many have high levels of mercury bound tightly into the solid matrix of the demolition waste. Asbestos is also present in the building, and special precautions have been taken to ensure that all aspects of the project conform to strict health and safety standard.”
Further soil sampling after the initial phases of demolition have been completed may also result in mercury contaminated soil being excavated, treated and safely disposed. Of particular interest is the process of waste sorting on site, such that the different waste streams will be carefully graded and grouped in order to maximise and facilitate treatment and recycling regimes and methods.
McMahon Services will have a team of six professionals on site for the duration of the project, as well as heavy equipment, such as a 45 tonne excavator; Virotec will project manage all phases of the project, including materials sorting, waste transfer and treatment, and disposal. The project is expected to take a total of eight weeks on site and a further four weeks to complete treatment and disposal.
In the past Virotec has delivered similar projects, however on a smaller scale. Mr Blair went on to explain that “this is one of the largest projects of its kind where Virotec has been contracted to manage all facets of the demolition, treatment and disposal of a building on this scale. Virotec believes that several projects of a similar scale will be secured in Australia during the next 18 months, and we look forward to working with the McMahon team of professionals on future projects of this nature. We are particularly gratified to add the safe treatment of asbestos, along with mercury, to our suite of services”
Read more →