Environmental Pollution – a new framework?

With the Water Framework Directive fast becoming the subject of more and more conversations as the realisation dawns that the brake-off date for compliance is just a few years away, Burdens Environmental have taken steps to bring a unique solution for surface water to the UK market.

Hydrocarbon removal

Smart Sponge® is a revolutionary new product that has been taking the USA surface water market by storm (sic) for the past 10 years. Developed for the oil industry, the Smart Sponge® is based on patented polymer technologies and is the only non-toxic, fully recyclable filtration system that destroys bacteria and absorbs hydrocarbons on contact. Contaminated storm water runoff, known as ‘non-point source pollution’, is a major source of contamination for lakes, streams, rivers, estuaries, coastal waters and even groundwater and forms part of the focus for the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The new Smart Sponge® forms an integral part of a range of products being developed by Burdens to address hydrocarbon removal from water.

What is Smart Sponge®?

Smart Sponge® is a proprietary combination of synthetic polymers with a unique molecular structure that is chemically selective to hydrocarbons. Smart Sponge® fully encapsulates recovered oil, preventing absorbed oil from leaching. It is also capable of removing low levels of oil from water thereby successfully removing sheen and the spent product is able to be used within a Waste for Energy process as it produces 10,000BTU thereby creating a closed loop solution with no resultant waste product.

In the USA they have very similar problems to us, just on a much larger scale so their solutions tend to be specific for their needs some of which are also appropriate in the UK & Ireland. With the ability to absorb many times its own weight in oil and locking it into its molecular structure there is so much potential for a product like this. We are using the Interceptor Enhancers to absorb oil within oil water separators so that annual maintenance can be dramatically reduced and the many tonnes of liquid waste can be transformed into just a few kilos of solid waste ready for recycling. The trials we did at one MOD facility indicated that we could achieve a 64% saving in annual maintenance costs as well as a 99% saving in waste for disposal, which when spread over all the MOD’s assets would offer incredible year on year financial and environmental benefits.

Smart Stop – filtration of hydrocarbons at source

One of the many exciting systems we are working on is the Smart Stop Module which can fit into any chamber or catch-pit and enabling the filtration of hydrocarbons out as the water passes through so you can treat the problem “at source”, but the really clever thing is that if there is a spill and the Module is deluged in oil then it closes off the outlet thereby protecting the sewer network from contamination.

Smart gullies – filtration of hydrocarbons at source

The same principle will be used to create Smart Gullies so again pollution can be dealt with at source – the work we are currently conducting with a County Council has identified over 70,000 street gullies in their area alone that exceed the acceptable levels of hydrocarbon contamination necessary to comply with the WFD.

Smart Interceptor for highways

With a new design of Smart Interceptor specifically for highway use we also will be able to deliver significant savings to PFI contractors over the life of their contracts. This new Smart Interceptor would not only be more efficient than a conventional system but would also provide the benefits of closing the system to contain the oil in the event of a catastrophic event.

Smart Sponge® Plus

Perhaps one of the most exciting developments has been the use of Smart Sponge® Plus to provide a solution for the Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO’s) which is a very hot topic at the moment. This product will remove E Coli, Salmonella, Legionnaires etc from moving water.

So with the WFD being part of British law since 2003 and a requirement to comply by 2015 it could be a case of a desperate rush by almost everyone involved in surface water management to clean up our act sooner rather than later. View the Smart Sponge® product page or contact us for more information.