World Environment Center The World Environment Center welcomes this fifth annual report of Pemex on Safety, Health and Environment and applauds Pemex’s commitment to the principles of sustainable development. The role of large scale corporations in society is changing at an accelerating pace. Sustainable development –whether at the global or local level– depends on meaningful cooperation between communities and the governments, industries, development agencies, international organizations and NGOs that support growth and the creation of wealth. Pemex is the largest company in Mexico and recently ranked as the eighth largest oil and gas company in the world, and the third largest producer of crude oil in the world. Corporations like Pemex are rethinking their roles in development and searching for new approaches that seek to incorporate sustainable development concepts into worldwide operations that go well beyond environment, health and safety best practices to minimize risks and increase shareholder value. As one of the world’s largest corporations and the leading company in Mexico, Pemex has undertaken the most serious responsibility of developing and implementing a pathway to sustainable development. This is an ongoing process characterized by goal-setting, continuous improvement, and regular reporting of its progress. Pemex’s commitment to sustainable development is supported by a number of initiatives cited in this report: its efforts to benchmark against other leading multinationals in its industry sector; its decision to support cleaner production techniques and processes at its installations; its goal of strengthening its management systems for industrial safety and environmental protection; and its efforts to promote the efficient use of energy and water. While Pemex has made great strides over the last year in a number of key areas related to environment, health and safety, decreases in its air emissions, waste generation, and emissions and discharges per unit of production would be desirable. With its commitment to cleaner production, resource efficiency and stewardship, and improved environmental management systems, Pemex is establishing a framework that will enable it to make further environmental advances. The World Environment Center commends Pemex for its decision to renew and strengthen its social policy in its drive to become a socially responsible business that generates economic, social and cultural value for its stakeholders, the citizens of Mexico. John Mizroch President & CEO World Environment Center
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Taken from USAID "Frontlines," September, 2003, p.10
MEXICO CITY—With air quality a pressing issue in auto exhaust-choked Mexico City, U.S. technicians are working with national oil company PEMEX to reduce emissions in its operations. An added bonus is significant cost savings.
USAID’s cleaner production program in Mexico is part of a region-wide effort to show industries that reducing pollution in their activities can also be good business.
USAID and its multilateral partners have opened and supported 14 Cleaner Production Centers across Latin America and the Caribbean to advise companies on techniques to eliminate pollution during production, such as recycling or recovering industrial byproducts.
“ The impact of a relatively small USAID training investment is paying big dividends for Mexico's environment.” USAID/MEXICO DIRECTOR PAUL WHITE, 1998–2003 USAID and PEMEX specialists scrutinized the oil production cycle—from exploration and drilling to refining, petrochemical production, and distribution.
Simply reducing natural gas flaring at oil-field wellheads led to major reductions in emissions by PEMEX, the world’s seventh-largest petroleum company.
Energy-intensive oil refining was closely studied. Engineers reexamined every step to boost efficiency, sealing steam leaks, recycling process heat, and generally using less energy to “crack” petroleum into gasoline and other marketable compounds.
This focus on cleaner production saved PEMEX energy, water, and materials worth an estimated $562 million over the past two years. PEMEX might save $1.2 billion more in the next 10 years, if it continues the process.
Not surprisingly, PEMEX has decided to launch programs for cleaner production and efficient use of water in all of its operating subsidiaries. “PEMEX has clearly demonstrated that protecting the environment can also positively affect a firm’s bottom line,” said PEMEX Corporate Director for Industrial Security and Environmental Protection Rafael Fernández de la Garza.
Reduced energy consumption in refining and other operations meant that less carbon dioxide—the greenhouse gas known as CO2—was released. CO2 emissions were reduced by 3.1 million metric tons, based on estimates by PEMEX and USAID engineers. That’s about 8 percent of the estimated 40 million metric tons of CO2 emitted by PEMEX in 2001.
Mexico produced 514 million tons of CO2 emissions in 2001. Its energy sector, including fixed sources such as power plants, emitted an estimated 45 percent of the total.
The Cleaner Production Centers were established through collaboration between technology transfer and energy teams from the Bureau for Economic Growth and Trade and field missions in the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean.
USAID staff say firms have shown interest in the program because it helps them come to grips with environmental and worker health and safety issues. Economically, firms can cut production costs and improve their competitive position. The process can also yield improvements in product quality and enhance a firm’s public image.
Gil Jackson, Christian Smith, and Ian May contributed to this article.
-------------------- Buy Low. Sell High. Posts: 10754 | From: The Land Of The Giants | Registered: Feb 2005
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<buybugs>
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BUGS subsidary SSWM presented at the Southern California Investment Association's National Investment Conference yesterday...this could reflect positively on the stock price on monday.
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BUGS Subsidiary Prepares Cost Estimates for New Work in Mexico
CARLSBAD, Calif., Sep 16, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Sub-Surface Waste Management of Delaware, Inc. (OTCBB:SSWM) announced that senior engineers from its Mexico subsidiary company Environmental Tec International, S.A. de C.V. (ETI) and representatives from its strategic alliance and teaming partner, the Zaragoza Graduate School of Studies of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), have been asked by the Mexican state oil corporation, Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), to submit detailed cost estimate engineering proposals to address urgent environmental compliance and remediation needs at Pemex operating facilities. The ETI/UNAM engineering team recently completed site visits to gather data for submitting their report as soon as possible in order that work can be commenced.
Representatives of ETI will be joining Governor Mario Marin Torres in his scheduled meeting Monday, September 19 with Pemex's President Mr. Luis Ramirez Corzo to discuss proposed remediation activities and a financing plan to address recent and historic releases of petroleum products from pipelines and bulk terminal facilities in the State of Puebla.
As previously reported, ETI will be responsible for restoration activities on contaminated areas including farming lands, rivers and water reservoirs in Puebla working through Governor Mario Marin Torres and his Secretary for the Ministry of Environment.
About Sub-Surface Waste Management
Sub-Surface Waste Management Inc. is a majority owned subsidiary of U.S. Microbics, Inc. (OTCBB:BUGS) and provides comprehensive civil and environmental engineering project management services including specialists to design, permit, build and operate environmental waste clean-up treatment systems using conventional, biological and filtration technologies. SSWM is capitalizing on its patented technologies registered in Mexico with SEMARNAT, a Federal regulatory agency overseeing environmental compliance nationwide.
The information contained in this press release includes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements usually contain the words "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "expect," or similar expressions that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include the Company's status as a startup company with uncertain profitability, need for significant capital, uncertainty concerning market acceptance of its products, competition, limited service and manufacturing facilities, dependence on technological developments and protection of its intellectual property. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those discussed herein. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences are discussed more fully in the "Risk Factors," "Management's Discussion and Analysis or Plan of Operation" and other sections of the Company's Form 10-KSB and other publicly available information regarding the Company on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company will provide you with copies of this information upon request.
SOURCE: Sub-Surface Waste Management of Delaware, Inc.
quote:Originally posted by <buybugs>: BUGS subsidary SSWM presented at the Southern California Investment Association's National Investment Conference yesterday...this could reflect positively on the stock price on monday.
Please register if you would like to continue posting here. There have been problems as of late with unregistered posters here on Allstocks. It's great that you're posting, but please register to continue posting.
-------------------- Buy Low. Sell High. Posts: 10754 | From: The Land Of The Giants | Registered: Feb 2005
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peaser, clean up your in-box! Hey, we have some positive info to verify..
Posts: 10729 | From: oregon | Registered: Feb 2005
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<buybugs>
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hi, sorry for posting unregistered...but when i tried to register with allstocks.com, it says that the email address i am trying to register with has been banned. I tried multiple email addresses, but it still says the same thing.
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-GAC (™) Patents "Our research and field development team was also busy this year as it had published its patented water treatment technology, Bio-GAC(TM) (Patent No: US 6,905,603 B2) for the treatment of toxic waste streams such as those caused by Hurricane Katrina and other man-made and natural disasters. We expect to license this technology in 2006 and use it in our own projects," added Brehm.
US patent No 6,905,603 B2 United States Patent 6,905,603 Mirzayi , et al. June 14, 2005 ________________________________________ Treatment of contaminated activated charcoal Abstract The method of providing for a fluid treatment, that includes providing a treatment zone containing granular activated charcoal, and providing a stream of water containing nutrients, contaminant degrading microbes and dissolved oxygen, and introducing the stream to a treatment zone to effect adsorption of nutrients and microbes onto the granular activated charcoal, thereby to provide a contaminant treatment matrix, whereby contaminant in fluid flow through the matrix is reduced. ________________________________________ Inventors: Mirzayi; Behzad (8228 S. Jackson St., Littleton, CO 80122); Robinson; Mery C. (6965 El Camino Real, Number 105-279, Carlsbad, CA 92009); Smith; Alvin J. (4379 Modoc Rd., Santa Barbara, CA 93110); Colasito; Dominic J. (2707 Panorama Dr., Bakersfield, CA 91101) Appl. No.: 052295 Filed: January 18, 2002 Current U.S. Class: 210/615; 210/150; 210/616; 210/617 Intern'l Class: C02F 003/00 Field of Search: 210/615-617,150
Posts: 10729 | From: oregon | Registered: Feb 2005
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1. The method of providing for a fluid treatment, that includes
a) providing a treatment zone containing granular activated charcoal, and
b) providing a stream of water containing nutrients, contaminant degrading microbes and dissolved oxygen, and
c) introducing said stream to said treatment zone to effect adsorption of said nutrients and microbes onto the granular activated charcoal, thereby to provide a contaminant treatment matrix, whereby contaminant in fluid flow through the matrix is reduced, and
d) providing a seeding zone in matrix form upstream of said treatment zone and through which said stream of water is passed prior to its introduction to said treatment zone, to entrain microbes growing in the matrix to which nutrient is supplied.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the granular activated charcoal in said zone has one of the following forms:
i) pellets
ii) a mat or mats
iii) fabric
iv) a support matrix
v) adsorption media.
3. The method of claim 1 including passing a separate treatable aqueous fluid stream into contact with said granular activated charcoal, in a treatment path, and recovering treated fluid from said path.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein said granular activated charcoal is disposed as a porous support media for said nutrients and microbes.
5. The method of claim 3 including adjusting the pH of the separate fluid stream to between 6.0 and 8.5 prior to said introducing step.
6. The method of claim 5 including adjusting the temperature of said separate fluid stream to a level less than 110° F., prior to said introducing step.
7. The method of claim 1 including adjusting the temperature of said separate fluid stream to a level less than 110° F., prior to said introducing step.
8. The method of claim 1 including introducing O2 to said treatment zone.
9. The method of claim 1 including aerating said treatment zone.
10. The method of claim 1 including providing a series of said treatment zones, and said seeding zone upstream of said treatment zones, and from which microbes are supplied in fluid flow to the treatment zones, for adsorption on the granular activated charcoal therein.
11. The method of claim 1 including passing a separate waste water stream containing toxic contaminants through said matrix, to reduce the concentration of said contaminants.
12. The method of claim 1 including passing gas transported toxic contaminants through said matrix, to reduce the concentration of said contaminants.
13. The method of providing for a fluid treatment, that includes
a) providing a treatment zone containing granular activated charcoal in pellet form, and
b) providing a stream of water containing nutrients, contaminant degrading microbes and dissolved oxygen, and
c) introducing said stream to said treatment zone to effect adsorption of said nutrients and microbes onto the granular activated charcoal, thereby to provide a contaminant treatment matrix, whereby contaminant in fluid flow through the matrix is reduced, and
d) providing a seeding zone in matrix form upstream of said treatment zone and through which said stream of water is passed prior to its introduction to said treatment zone, to entrain microbes growing in the matrix to which nutrient is supplied. Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to treatment of granular activated charcoal (GAC) filtration systems; and more particularly it concerns use of micro-organisms for removal of contaminating hydrocarbons from such systems.
"Liquid phase" GAC systems are typically used as water filtration media to adsorb toxic chemicals found in wastewater and extracted groundwater plumes. Treated water typically must meet Clean Water Act standards for discharge into sewers or streams. GAC becomes spent when its adsorption potentials are met and breakthrough of toxics occurs. There is need for apparatus and methods that not only extend service life, but also, actively effect scrubbing of the effluent water stream to mitigate GAC breakthrough of daughter degradation compounds such as Tri-Butyl Alcohol (TBA), which is created in the breakdown of Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE), the clean fuels additive found in gasoline.
More generally, granular activated carbon or charcoal (GAC) is used extensively to treat water, wastewater and groundwater at remediation sites contaminated with various organic pollutants such as petroleum hydrocarbons including BTEX and MTBE, chlorinated solvents, volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds. Historically, this technology has been used because it is effective, predictable, economical, and simple to implement at a variety of sites and operating conditions. Recently, however, increasing regeneration costs and the regulation of compounds that have lower adsorption efficiencies has made traditional GAC systems less economical. For example, hundreds of sites across the United States and overseas with groundwater impacted by MTBE, and its daughter products including TBA, must be remediated to near non-detect levels, but GAC has a very low adsorption efficiency for MTBE and TBA. The result is that MTBE and TBA breakthrough occurs very rapidly and carbon change-out frequencies must increase.
Such toxic chemicals include for example tri-butyl alcohol created in the breakdown of MTBE, Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether, the clean fuels additive found in gasoline.
As noted, granular activated carbon (GAC) is used extensively to treat groundwater and vapor streams at remediation sites and industrial facilities across the U.S. and abroad. To date, the standard practice has been to replace spent carbon with virgin carbon, or to have the carbon thermally regenerated. Replacing spent carbon with virgin carbon is more expensive, but is often done since the alternative thermal regeneration breaks down the carbon, resulting in more "fines". The cost of thermal regeneration has also been increasing due to increasing energy costs. At the same time, the increasing presence of MTBE and its daughter products like TBA have resulted in increasing carbon usage rates and expense, since GAC has a lower adsorption efficiency for these compounds.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a major object of the invention to provide an improved method for fluid treatment, that includes
a) providing a treatment zone containing granular activated charcoal, and
b) providing a stream of water containing nutrients, contaminant degrading microbes and dissolved oxygen, and
c) introducing that stream to the treatment zone to effect adsorption of nutrients and microbes onto the granular activated charcoal, thereby to provide a contaminant treatment matrix.
An important advantage of such a method, and its associated system, over traditional granular activated charcoal per se treatment of fluid such as water, is that the system is very effective in the treatment of hydrocarbon contaminants such as MTBE and its byproducts, resulting in typical cost savings of up to 50 percent relative to traditional GAC systems.
The surface of granular-activated carbon adsorbs organic compounds, such as MTBE, and acts as a "storage site" to buffer variations in influent concentration. The surface is also an excellent attachment medium for bacteria. This allows the bacteria to thrive in the presence of uniform aqueous concentrations of MTBE and other organic compounds.
A further advantage lies in elimination of need for thermal desorption facilities which roast toxics from the GAC, causing indirect damage up to 25% of the GAC by volume, and necessitating addition of virgin GAC to blend back to specified adsorption levels or properties. The present on-site process can be operated at one-third to one-half the cost of conventional thermal reactivation.
Another object includes provision of a process wherein microbial blends are employed to inoculate bacteria directly upon out-of-service and spent Granular Activated Carbon from both "liquid phase" and "vapor phase" filtration systems. "Liquid phase" GAC systems are typically used as water filtration media to adsorb toxic chemicals found in wastewater and extracted groundwater plumes. "Vapor phase" GAC systems are typically used to scrub or reduce airborne or gas-borne toxics that vent from filling and emptying large storage tanks and process treatment vessels as found in petroleum refineries and tank farms.
# A further object includes provision of microbe adsorbing granular activated charcoal in a treatment zone, where the charcoal has one of the following matrix-like forms:
* i) pellets * ii) a mat or mats * iii) fabric * iv) a support matrix * v) adsorption media.
Yet another object includes provision of a process that includes passing treatable aqueous fluid into contact with such matrix adsorbed substances, in a treatment path, and recovering treated fluid from that path. Such fluid typically includes water. As referred to, the GAC is typically disposed as a porous support media for such nutrients and microbes.
An additional object includes adjusting the pH of the fluid to between 6.0 and 8.5 prior to its introduction to the matrix; and also adjusting the temperature of the fluid to a level less than 110° F., prior to the introducing step.
Further objects include provision of a multi-tank system containing GAC, and connected in series for reception of fluid to be treated, and microbial nutrients to be adsorbed on the GAC. At least one of the upstream tanks typically and preferably contains seeding microbes to be carried downstream onto the GAC in successive tanks. Porous synthetic resinous ball-like "seeders" may be employed in the upstream tank to disperse microbes into the flow, the microbes having been deposited on the seeders.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention, as well as the details of an illustrative embodiment, will be more fully understood from the following specification and drawings, in which:
DRAWING DESCRIPTION
FIG. 1 is a preferred system diagram;
FIG. 2 is another system diagram.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring first to FIG. 1, a bioreactor surge tank is shown at 10. Nutrients and microbes are supplied to the upper interior of tank 10 at 11 from a tank 12, via a metering pump 13; and air or oxygen is supplied to the lower interior of the tank 10, as via a blower 14, to increase dissolved O2 levels in the fluid in the tank. Process water, conditioned as to pH level and temperature, is supplied at 15 to the tank upper interior.
The reactor 10 contains a bio-support matrix or bed 16 through which process water flows downwardly to an exit at 17. The matrix 16 serves to maintain an active or "healthy" microbial population to ensure that a portion of the microbes will be picked up and carried by the water flowing through 16 and to and from exit 17, for seeding the granular activated charcoal GAC in a subsequent vessel or vessels. Matrix or bed 16 may advantageously consist of a mass of synthetic resinous (plastic) pieces such as porous balls, held in position as for example by upper and lower screens at 19 and 20. The O2 supply may include a fine-bubble aeration device or devices, or by adding or supplying hydrogen peroxide or other oxidizer.
Usable bacteria as for treatment (for example consumption) of hydrocarbon contaminants, include one or more of: Achromobacter, Arthrobacter, Aspergillus, Bacillus, Candida, Cladosporium, Corynebacterium, Myrothecium, Nocardia, Punicillium, Phialophora, Pseudomonas, Rhodotorula, Streptomyces, Trichoderma, and a blend of Anerobic and Faculative Organisms.
# Process water flows through the interstices in and between the plastic pieces or balls in the matrix or mass to entrain bacteria growing in the matrix, by virtue of the nutrient supply. Nutrient material may include one or more of the following:
The second step in the system employs one or more treatment vessels or canisters 25 to which process fluid such as water is supplied. See paths 26 and 27.
The process water containing nutrients, microbes, and dissolved oxygen enters the vessels where a carbon matrix adsorbs and concentrates the organic compounds carried in the upward flow in the vessels. The carbon matrix can consist of GAC or other carbon based products, including pellets, mats, fabrics, or a combination of carbon materials. The carbon material acts as an adsorption media for the organic compounds and as a support matrix for the microbes.
The microbes adsorbed onto the GAC matrix granules consume hydrocarbon material, such as MTBE, in the flowing process water, in the vessels. The matrix typically fills the vessels, as schematically indicated by in-fill arrows 28. The GAC material from which hydrocarbon has been removed by consumption (microbial consumption of hydrocarbon to produce CO2 and water) is periodically removed from the vessels, as schematically indicated by arrows 29. Treated fluid, or water, leaves the vessels as indicated at 30, for return flow in a loop to 15.
The bioreactor and Bio-GAC™ vessels must be sized to ensure that adequate retention time is available for the adsorption and microbial processes to be effective. High flow velocities tend to wash the microbes through the vessels, and prevent the development of suitable microbial populations to be effective on the water waste stream being treated, and removed at 30.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrative of an alternate system. Process water received at 32 is sprayed on packing 33 in a bioreactor vessel 34. Packing 32 corresponds to the bed 16 in FIG. 1. Process water draining to sump 35 in vessel 34 is removed at 36 and pumped to the reactors 37, 38, and 39, corresponding to reactors 25. pH control liquid is added at 40 to flow path 41; and microbes and nutrients may be added at 42 to the flow 41. After passing through the treatment tanks 37-39, process water leaves at 46, for use, or for return flow to 32.
The disclosed system or systems can be used for a variety of process streams containing organic compounds. In order to protect the microbes in the system, the groundwater or process water must be conditioned prior to entering the system. As referred to, the pH must be adjusted to between 6.0 and 8.5 and the temperature should be less than 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
Typically, the process restores GAC to 95% or more of its original adsorption value or values, without the need for transport handling.
A variation of the process further contemplates that the spent GAC to be treated be placed in a gravity feed hopper engineered to drain at an optimum rate of flow dependent upon GAC grain sizing and available treatment vessel size. Spray nozzles sized at 1-3 GPM are suspended above the spent GAC in a manifold pattern with overlapping radius in a treatment zone to assure maximum surface area coverage and to minimize the chance for treatment effluent channeling and formation of erosion gaps within the body of GAC deposited in the treatment vessel. Such a system or process employs the application of microbial blends, surfactants, nutrients and water applied through a series of spray nozzles that continually recycle the treatment blend in a closed loop. Gravity fed treatment blend is recovered using a receiving tank under or adjacent the treatment vessel plumbed to a water pump that feeds the spray nozzles atop the GAC treatment tank. Once GAC reactivation levels are achieved, liquid phase GAC can be placed directly back into service. Vapor phase GAC must be dried to specified moisture standards before being placed back into service. Conventional electric fan blowers plumbed directly into the treatment container force air through the GAC to achieve the proper moisture content.
The above system can be employed to treat water containing any of the following substances:
# The system can be used in the following industries for treatment of water, wastewater, and impacted groundwater subject to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA); Clean Air Act (CAA); Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA); the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Clean-water Act (CWA) including, but not limited to the equivalent state and local requirements. The typical industries with potential beneficial use are:
* Local potable water treatment companies, boards, districts * Oil and gas production, transportation, pipeline, bulking, refining, distribution, retail and gas stations] * Commercial and industrial facilities with waste water production, and/or NPDES permit requirements to treat facility discharges * Chemical and petrochemical manufacturing facilities * Groundwater remediation sites.
In a large-scale test, virgin carbon was loaded into a bioreactor consisting of two 55-gallon drums and exposed to water containing MTBE until the carbon was saturated with MTBE. At this point, microbes were added to the reactors and the system operation was continued by re-circulating water at flow rates of up to 2 gallons per minute. MTBE is added to the feed tank to create MTBE concentrations of approximately 150 mg/l. Continued operation and testing have shown that the bioreactor is effectively reducing MTBE concentrations by more than 99 percent as indicated in Table 1.
In the small-scale test, virgin carbon was loaded into two small columns and water containing approximately 180 mg/l MTBE was passed through the columns to simulate field conditions. After passing a volume of water through the columns equivalent to three times the adsorption capacity of the virgin carbon, samples were collected to determine if the system was continuing to adsorb MTBE or if the carbon was saturated. The results in Table 2 show that even after exposing the carbon to three times the adsorption capacity of the carbon, the system continued to adsorb the MTBE. TABLE 1 Bio-GAC ™ Reactor Drum Test MTBE Sample ID (μg/l)
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ROBERT C. BREHM has served as our chief executive officer, president and chairman of the board since July 1997. He also served as our vice president from November 1996 to January 1997 and as a consultant through Robert C. Brehm Consulting, Inc., an investment banking, investor relations and strategic planning company. From July 1994 through the present, Mr. Brehm has served as the president of Robert C. Brehm Consulting, Inc. From 1991 to 1994, he was the president of Specialty Financing International, Inc., a finance procurement company. Mr. Brehm has owned computer hardware, software, finance and consulting companies. Mr. Brehm has a double engineering degree in electrical engineering and computer science and an MBA in Finance and Accounting from the University of California at Berkeley.
------------------------------------------------- Just a reminder from another board..
Posts: 10729 | From: oregon | Registered: Feb 2005
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-------------------- Buy Low. Sell High. Posts: 10754 | From: The Land Of The Giants | Registered: Feb 2005
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<buybugs>
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posted
do u guys think i should buy more bugs at .039 or wait for a dip? i just dont want to miss out on the PR.just need a second opinion. thank u
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Doing a proper evaluation at this time is speculative at best...
However the reason we are long, or short term, swing players or what ever is because we believe others will buy this stock because they think it will make them money....
A belief system is crucial in any OTCBB or any other stock..A strong belief will hopefully cause people to buy and hold..
The due diligence being done on this thread and on other boards is of a very high quality..
This makes me think the quality of the investors is good -high...
So, the more stable type of long is coming on board, this will translate to the stock holding at progressivly higher bottoms..
The problem with that is, trying to flip the stock may cost you dearly..Because to get back in you may have to pay more than you sold at. And that will really screw up your cost average..
If ya need a number to sink your teeth into-------- I like .10 increase in PPS for every $10,000,000.00 contract.
That does not take into account bubble spikes in buying...
The A/S at 500mil is a healthy amount and I really like it..The under 280mil O/S is just about right if we do indeed start heading for the Nasdaq..
Posts: 10729 | From: oregon | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
Good bugs' cleaning up water tainted with MTBE
Microscopic critters gobble gunk from millions of gallons or else
By Kerry Cavanaugh, Staff Writer
NORTH HOLLYWOOD -- To clean up a massive plume of MTBE in Los Angeles' drinking water supply, scientists have produced trillions of tiny "bugs" that feed on the toxic gasoline additive and leave the water pure enough to return to the aquifer.
The project is the first of its kind in Los Angeles, and officials rave that the superefficient microbes will restore millions of gallons of precious San Fernando Valley groundwater, which provides 10 percent of the city's drinking supply.
"This is exciting because we're saving the water, and water is precious in the region," said Yue Rong, a senior environmental scientist with the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Scientists expect MTBE-gobbling bacteria will become a cheaper, safer way to clean up groundwater contamination.
MTBE -- methyl tertiary butyl ether -- was added to gasoline beginning in 1979 to cut air pollution. Extremely water-soluble, MTBE tainted water supplies with its distinct turpentine taste and odor when underground gasoline storage tanks leaked into groundwater.
An estimated 2,300 water systems in 36 states have been contaminated by MTBE, according to a June report from the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies. California stopped using the chemical in 2004.
In North Hollywood, the former Fast Fuel Service Station at Victory and Vineland boulevards leaked thousands of gallons of gasoline into the groundwater before going out of business, leaving oil company Tesoro with the cleanup.
Tesoro found a thick layer of gasoline floating on the groundwater and MTBE levels up to 100,000 parts per billion. The acceptable limit for drinking is 5 ppb.
More troubling, the massive plume of MTBE was migrating toward Los Angeles Department of Water and Power wells. The utility shut down two of the wells for fear of pulling the chemical even closer.
The contamination was so severe that Tesoro probably would have had to buy property in the residential neighborhood and build a water-treatment plant if a better cleanup method had not been found, said Jeffrey Baker, environmental remediation supervisor for Tesoro.
Instead, Baker and the company's consultant, Haley & Aldrich, sought the help of Kate Scow, a soil-science professor at the University of California, Davis, and graduate student Kristin Hicks. Scientists in their lab had discovered a microbes strain called PM1 that feeds on MTBE, destroying the molecule and leaving carbon dioxide behind.
PM1 is found naturally in the groundwater. To accelerate the bug's natural hunger for MTBE, experts cultivate the bacteria inside carbon filters -- similar to the filters found in household water purifiers -- and add oxygen. The bacteria multiply and quickly chomp through MTBE.
"This is an efficient organism that breaks it down to natural elements and creates no byproducts," Baker said.
Tesoro has been using bacteria to remove MTBE in North Hollywood for two years, piping tainted water to two small units at a self-storage facility on Victory Boulevard, where the water runs through several chambers that house the carbon filters and bacteria.
After several trips through the filters, the MTBE is below the detection level of 0.5 ppb.
Until recently, Tesoro released the clean water into the storm-drain system and it eventually washed out to the ocean -- a waste of 7 million gallons of water that frustrated local officials.
Just this week, however, Tesoro flipped the switch on the second phase that reinjects the treated water into the aquifer. It's the first time Los Angeles water officials have allowed someone to put treated water back into the San Fernando Valley aquifer.
"We had to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was safe," Baker said.
The new process will save 10 million gallons of water, or enough to serve 60 families for a year.
Now that the scientists have shown that tiny bugs can do the work of high-tech water-treatment devices, Scow hopes other companies will embrace a cheaper, less-destructive and more natural way to clean up contamination.
"This work is an excellent example of how working with nature, supporting the cleanup activities of organisms already present, rather than creating artificial systems, was successful." l8s=8 Kerry Cavanaugh, (818) 713-3746 kerry.cavanaugh*dailynews.com
------------------------------------------------ I found this on another board..
Posts: 10729 | From: oregon | Registered: Feb 2005
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Finally got allstocks.com to approve my registration. Looking forward to tomorrow. SOMETHING BIG IS COMING!!
Posts: 224 | From: NJ | Registered: Oct 2005
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According to Robert Brehm in his CEO interview, PEMEX currently has $3 Billion designated for cleaning up thier oil-spills over the next five years. BUGS seems to have a 1-up on the competition as they have hired the recently retired PEMEX Director of Environment Remediation.(see PR below)
Contracts are expected to be announced at any time. It shouldn't be long before BUGS breaks .1 and holds at that level.
SSWM Mexican Subsidiary Hires Senior Petroleum Expert Tuesday July 26, 9:54 am ET 30 year veteran with Pemex joins ETI
CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 26, 2005--Sub-Surface Waste Management of Delaware, Inc. (OTCBB:SSWM - News), announced that its Mexican subsidiary company Environmental Tec International, S.A. de C.V. (ETI) has appointed Mr. Guillermo Andrade Gelabert, P.E. as Vice President and Program Director to develop business opportunities with Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the Mexican state oil corporation. Bruce Beattie, CEO of SSWM, stated, "Guillermo brings over 30 years' experience as a multi-degreed and accomplished registered environmental engineer who recently retired from Pemex as Director of Environment Remediation for Pemex Corporation over all operating divisions of Pemex; Petrochemical, Refinery, Production and Primary Exploration. Guillermo will apply his contacts, knowledge and expertise to develop environmental cleanup contract opportunities for ETI from all operating divisions of Pemex."
About Sub-Surface Waste Management
Sub-Surface Waste Management Inc. is a majority owned subsidiary of U.S. Microbics, Inc. (OTCBB:BUGS - News) and provides comprehensive civil and environmental engineering project management services including specialists to design, permit, build and operate environmental waste clean-up treatment systems using conventional, biological and filtration technologies. SSWM and its Mexican subsidiary company ETI is capitalizing on its licensed patented technologies registered in Mexico with SEMARNAT a Federal regulatory agency overseeing environmental compliance nationwide.
Investors and media contact Bruce Beattie at 760/918-1860, ext. 105 or bbeattie*bugsatwork.com; or learn about the company by visiting its Web site at http://www.bugsatwork.com.
The information contained in this press release includes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements usually contain the words "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "expect" or similar expressions that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include the company's status as a startup company with uncertain profitability, need for significant capital, uncertainty concerning market acceptance of its products, competition, limited service and manufacturing facilities, dependence on technological developments and protection of its intellectual property. The company's actual results could differ materially from those discussed herein. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences are discussed more fully in the "Risk Factors," "Management's Discussion and Analysis or Plan of Operation" and other sections of the company's Form 10-KSB and other publicly available information regarding the company on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company will provide you with copies of this information upon request.
[ October 03, 2005, 08:33: Message edited by: Peaser01 ]
-------------------- Buy Low. Sell High. Posts: 10754 | From: The Land Of The Giants | Registered: Feb 2005
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Positive opening maybe, but I'm not sure It will be a "Gapper".... Get that bid up to 046 and I will be on the gappen wagon with ya Peaser...
Posts: 3209 | From: poohville ohio | Registered: Apr 2005
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Wanted: Bugs That Scrub Harnessing bacteria for environmental cleanup
This sample of groundwater from contaminated soil could yield bacteria that can degrade persistent soil pollutants.
The United States is investing billions of dollars to clean up polluted groundwater and soils. In Wisconsin alone, the Department of Natural Resources has a list of nearly 10,000 sites that need to be cleaned up. In 1998, contaminants turned up in well water samples from Beloit to Rhinelander. Some communities removed individual wells from service because water from those wells contained pollutants considered unsafe for drinking.
The most common soil and groundwater pollutants include fuels such as gasoline and oil, industrial compounds such as TCE (trichloroethylene) and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and pesticides. Many of the compounds are threats to human health. Exposure to benzene or TCE, for example, is known to increase the risk of cancer.
What's wrong with the "pump and treat" approach? Efforts to clean up these toxins have cost far more than anticipated and the results have been discouraging. Conventional methods bring contaminated soil and water to the surface before treating it. Such "pump-and-treat" methods may continue for decades at a polluted site and basically transfer the contaminants to the air or to landfills.
As the limitations of these methods become clearer, experts have become more interested in biological remediation. Bioremediation relies on microbes to destroy hazardous contaminants in place by transforming them into less harmful compounds. The transformation occurs naturally at contaminated sites and has controlled the spread of some pollution without pump-and-treat methods. Those who advocate an expanded role for bioremediation say it will be less costly, faster and safer than pump-and-treat methods, and can be combined with them.
Bacteria: Doing what comes naturally Bacteria are the key players in bioremediation, which builds on the role they have played in nature for billions of years. These microscopic organisms live virtually everywhere. They break down complex plant, animal and human waste. Bacteria chew up any compound that provides the energy or nutrients they need, even if it's a relatively new compound to them. Looking for contaminant-eating bacteria that can exist without oxygen. Graduate student Michele Zwolinski uses an oxygen-free chamber to work with samples from the Fort McCoy site. She is trying to isolate bacteria that can degrade groundwater contaminants in the absence of oxygen.
"Wherever contaminants are present there's strong selection for bacteria that can get some energy from the compounds," says biochemist Brian Fox. "The pollutants that accumulate in the environment are those that aren't a food source for bacteria or that produce toxins when bacteria metabolize them. Or maybe some bacteria can degrade these compounds, but just do it very slowly.
"If such bacteria do exist, perhaps we can improve their ability," Fox says. "What we're trying to do is to speed the process of breakdown."
Fox is one of three CALS scientists trying to harness the power of bacteria to enhance the cleanup of environmental pollution. He studies a bacterial enzyme that can break down some of our most troublesome groundwater contaminants -- benzene, dichloromethane, trichloroethylene and similar pollutants.
To learn how the enzyme works, Fox has been making changes in the gene that produces it. The genetic changes alter the enzyme's structure. Fox can then see how the alteration affects its ability to degrade different compounds.
Bioremediation has become a fast-growing sector of the hazardous waste cleanup industry. Fox collaborates with scientists at Envirogen, Inc., a New Jersey-based company, that is evaluating the altered enzymes Fox produces to see if they can attack contaminants.
Bacteria face off with a gas spill Soil scientist Bill Hickey is examining what happens in a diverse microbial community when bacteria there come face to face with a gasoline spill. Hickey and hydrogeologist Jean Bahr, from the College of Letters and Science, are studying a fuel spill at Fort McCoy, near Sparta. Bahr is documenting how the plume of contaminated water moves. Hickey, a soil microbiologist, is isolating bacteria that degrade hydrocarbons in groundwater that has no oxygen.
Hickey has studied ground contaminated by leaking fuel tanks and was the first to show that bacteria could degrade TCE in water year-round under Wisconsin conditions if he supplied the bugs with ammonium as a nitrogen source. Now he's looking for bacteria that can degrade benzene. Benzene is a relatively minor component of gasoline, but it's the most toxic component to people and one that bacteria degrade slowly.
"Hydrocarbons are a rich carbon source and bacteria immediately attack them when hydrocarbons enter groundwater," Hickey says. "The intense bacterial activity rapidly uses up what little oxygen was present in the groundwater. When oxygen disappears from groundwater many bacteria can no longer survive there, and that slows down the cleanup."
Wanted: Microbes that exist where oxygen doesn't Hickey wants to identify bacteria that degrade benzene and closely related compounds in the absence of oxygen. In the laboratory, he is testing the microbial community from uncontaminated groundwater at Fort McCoy to see how that community changes when he adds hydrocarbons. He has found a major shift in the bacteria present when he adds benzene. Hickey has already isolated bacteria that can degrade hydrocarbons similar to benzene in water devoid of oxygen. Now he hopes to find species that can degrade benzene itself.
Microbial physiologist Glenn Chambliss and his colleagues have identified two bacteria and the enzymes that enable them to degrade nitroglycerin and TNT.
"This is the first time anyone has purified and characterized enzymes that can take the initial step in breaking down TNT," says Chambliss, who chairs the Department of Bacteriology.
The findings may lead to biologically based methods for cleaning up soils contaminated with toxic residues left from manufacturing explosives, according to Chambliss. There are an estimated 10,000 U.S. sites contaminated with explosives and related compounds. The materials include: TNT (trinitrotoluene), DNT (dinitrotoluene), nitroglycerin, and nitrocellulose, also known as smokeless gunpowder. TNT and DNT are particularly toxic and break down very slowly.
Wanted: Bacteria that eat dynamite To find bacteria that could "eat" dynamite, Chambliss and his colleagues collected bacteria from sites once contaminated with nitroglycerin at the Badger Army Ammunition Plant near Baraboo. The plant was once the world's largest producer of smokeless gun powder, a propellant used to fire artillery shells.
The researchers identified several bacteria that could survive at high nitroglycerin concentrations and degrade the compound. They have sequenced the genes that code for different enzymes from two species. One enzyme is five times as efficient as the other at degrading TNT. The more efficient enzyme can follow two different pathways in degrading TNT, according to Chambliss. "One leads to toxic components that don't decay further. The other pathway leads to a partial but more complete breakdown without toxic compounds."
Chambliss is now experimenting to see if he can engineer the enzyme so it only works via the preferred pathway. He, Brian Fox and environmental engineer Dan Noguera from the College of Engineering are also looking for other bacteria and enzymes that will complete the cleanup.
Cleaning up pollutants can be like running an assembly line in reverse. You start with a complex molecule and the bacteria break it apart, eventually reducing it to water and carbon dioxide.
It takes bacterial teamwork "Bacteria like those that work on TNT often move the degradation process only a certain distance before producing a compound they can no longer benefit from or that is too toxic to keep around," says Fox. "They put that compound back into the environment where other bacteria will hopefully degrade it further. The chain may take several steps before it produces harmless compounds."
Chambliss and Fox hope to find what Fox sometimes calls the "missing link," one bacterium or several that will take the partly degraded TNT molecule and reduce it to compounds that known bacteria can fully degrade to carbon dioxide and water.
You can try to create these bugs or look for them in nature, Fox says. If bacteria can break down a compound, he feels certain that researchers have the best chance of finding those bacteria in nature. "Nature is the greatest experimenter of them all. Nature's experiments go on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year," he says.
From lab tests to commercial applications: A long leap "It's a major leap from academic research to companies implementing these findings," says Hickey. But the three College scientists know the contaminants are likely to be a problem for a long time to come.
"The bugs have the potential to address these contamination problems," Chambliss says. "But we're still at an early stage in understanding the processes involved. It took us a long time and a great deal of research to develop an industry around the antibiotics that bacteria produce. It's going to take more research before we get bacteria that can solve some of these environ- mental problems."
Posts: 10729 | From: oregon | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:Originally posted by maumee river rat: if it gets below 038 , its headed to 034....small wall just under current level...039+
hope it holds..
------------------------------------------------ Well, now we know where ya got your bid in..LOL
Posts: 10729 | From: oregon | Registered: Feb 2005
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What's up all????? all is well in our house just stopped at the office to do 16 hours of work in 2 1/2 Ha. The Baby boy is has arrived 6 lbs 13 oz and 19 1/2 inches long dont worry were not big people thats quite a good size for us Just glad that everything on the c-section went well we get out of the hospital tommorrow so probably wont be back on until wensday. You guys arnt doing very well a droping it back in the low 3's for me Dust you need to work on that Hope you and Peaserman are doing great. See ya wensday Posts: 598 | From: San Jose, CA USA | Registered: Nov 2003
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