Producers use microbes to reduce wastes

Unfortunately, exploring for and producing oil and gas often results in an accumulation of byproducts now classified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as exempt wastes. They come from drilling, workover operations, field production, and gas plants. Increasingly, bioremediation becomes a method of handling wastes from these processes. In all bioremediation treatment approaches, the goal is to stimulate or enhance natural biological activity in contaminated materials. A way to do that is improve environmental conditions in the soil or sludge so the rate of biodegradation quickens. Conventional options to deal with exempt drilling operation wastes include on-site disposal, solidification, off-site disposal, chemical/physical extraction, and incineration. In most cases, these technologies are effective, but cost is the primary driving force. To date, the common bioremediation approach for drilling operation wastes has been land farming. Composting research offers a new easy-to-use treatment to decompose hydrocarbons with natural bacteria.