Natural tools
As simple as worms, plants, and algae. The tools we
use to provide our services enable sustainability
and lower financial and environmental costs
compared to traditional engineering.
As simple as worms, plants, and algae. The tools we use to provide our services enable sustainability and lower financial and environmental costs compared to traditional engineering.
Worms
Worms live in sediment and dig extensive tunnel networks when traveling, seeking nutrition or oxygen. When introduced into a freshly deposited layer of dredged sediment or mine tailings they will quickly colonize the entire bed (the largest thickness tested to date is 2.5 m) filling it with tunnels and efficiently increasing the hydraulic permeability of the bed. The latter will soon lead to a fast dewatering of the sediment, also accompanied by strengthening effects.
Worms can dewater your slurry within 1-2 weeks to a level that typically takes several months to achieve without them. Generally, achieving these results requires approximately 1 part of worms for every 100,000 parts of sediment. The latter is a function of in-situ sediment properties and can be adjusted – within a similar order of magnitude- following project economics to, for example, further accelerate dewatering by introducing more worms.
Applications
– Drying/dewatering fields: transforming sediment into soil.
– Mine and tailings ponds reclamation: densification of tailings.
– Binder substitute in construction: decrease of water content
before stabilization with cement or other binders.
– Land reclamation: faster settlement of sediment.
Plants
Certain species of plants are known as pioneering, as they are specialized in settling into freshly deposited watery mud. When established, these plants will quickly develop a root network throughout which they will suck out the water in the mud and transform it into soil while thriving. We use pioneering plants for the dewatering and strengthening of dredged sediment deposits and mine tailing ponds, as an alternative or together with worms.
Applications
– Drying/dewatering fields: transforming sediment into soil.
– Mine and tailings ponds reclamation: densification of tailings.
– Binder substitute in construction: decrease of water content
before stabilization with cement or other binders.
– Land reclamation: faster settlement of sediment.
Algae
Every year in most water bodies of the world, in particular in all shallow lakes, diatom blooms develop during spring. The resulting sticky floating algal cells glue to the suspended sediments present in the lake’s water body, efficiently flocculating it and originating settling fluxes to the bed. We propose to use locally available or locally produced algal masses to flocculate suspended sediment in the context of turbidity mitigation and dredging operations.
Applications
– Mitigate turbidity in dredging operations: applying natural
flocculant for dredging activities in rivers, channels and lakes.
– Mitigate turbidity in underwater tailings storage facilities:
contributing to the development of an autonomous and natural
mitigation mechanism.
– Mitigate turbidity in contaminated sediment deposits: contributing
to the development of an autonomous and natural mitigation
mechanism.
Worms live in sediment and dig extensive tunnel networks when traveling, seeking nutrition or oxygen. When introduced into a freshly deposited layer of dredged sediment or mine tailings they will quickly colonize the entire bed (the largest thickness tested to date is 2.5 m) filling it with tunnels and efficiently increasing the hydraulic permeability of the bed. The latter will soon lead to a fast dewatering of the sediment, also accompanied by strengthening effects.
Worms can dewater your slurry within 1-2 weeks to a level that typically takes several months to achieve without them. Generally, achieving these results requires approximately 1 part of worms for every 100,000 parts of sediment.
The latter is a function of in-situ sediment properties and can be adjusted – within a similar order of magnitude- following project economics to, for example, further accelerate dewatering by introducing more worms.
Applications
– Drying/dewatering fields: transforming sediment into soil
– Mine and tailings ponds reclamation: densification of tailings.
– Binder substitute in construction: decrease of water content before stabilization with cement or other binders
– Land reclamation: faster settlement of sediment
Certain species of plants are known as pioneering, as they are specialized in settling into freshly deposited watery mud. When established, these plants will quickly develop a root network throughout which they will suck out the water in the mud and transform it into soil while thriving. We use pioneering plants for the dewatering and strengthening of dredged sediment deposits and mine tailing ponds, as an alternative or together with worms.
Applications
– Drying/dewatering fields: transforming sediment into soil
– Mine and tailings ponds reclamation: densification of tailings.
– Binder substitute in construction: decrease of water content before stabilization with cement or otherbinders
– Land reclamation: faster settlement of sediment
Every year in most water bodies of the world, in particular in all shallow lakes, diatom blooms develop during spring. The resulting sticky floating algal cells glue to the suspended sediments present in the lake’s water body, efficiently flocculating it and originating settling fluxes to the bed. We propose to use locally available or locally produced algal masses to flocculate suspended sediment in the context of turbidity mitigation and dredging operations.
Applications
– Mitigate turbidity in dredging operations: applying natural flocculant for dredging activities in rivers, channels and lakes.
– Mitigate turbidity in underwater tailings storage facilities: contributing to the development of anautonomous and natural mitigation mechanism.
– Mitigate turbidity in contaminated sediment deposits: contributing to the development of an autonomous and natural mitigation mechanism.
Want to apply natural solutions to
your sediment problem?
Want to apply natural solutions to your sediment problem?