Animal Decay Odors Eliminated with PureAyre
Nels Cone is an environmental project manager for Earth Solutions NW, LLC, a Bellevue, Washington-based Geotechnical and Environmental engineering firm specializing in solving problems for road, building, and land construction projects throughout the Pacific Northwest. Their team of engineers was hired to do soil analysis for a large warehouse and office construction project in Sumner, Washington. That project came to a halt when the contractors uncovered the remains of an old animal farm and slaughterhouse. The smells were extremely offensive. Contractors came to name the material “goat goo.” The exposed smelly gunk was covered over, and work stopped – for months.
Holding up a job like this is tremendously expensive. However, the driving concern was the exposure to site personnel. “The odor level generated was strong enough that site personnel were nauseous,” explained Cone. Local landfills were hesitant to accept the material. Local regulatory agencies held up the project for weeks as they required an analysis of the stinky mess and its impact on neighbors and site personnel.
What Kind of Stink?
Cone explained that the smelly goat goo contained odor compounds such as cadaverine and putrescine (anaerobically generated amines), and hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell). Cone needed a way to protect people, especially the working contractors and community, from both the odor and toxic impact of these compounds.
A local landfill referred Cone to Clean Earth, Inc. and PureAyre. On investigation, he learned that PureAyre’s NZ™ technology is highly effective against sulfides and amines – the odor chemicals he was dealing with. Also, he learned that PureAyre can be fogged to cover a large air space, and it could be sprayed, if needed, right onto the offending material. Finally, he learned that PureAyre was food-grade safe – safe enough to use around people with no need for personal protective equipment.
Cone and Clean Earth developed a plan approved by the contractor, the regulatory agencies, and the developers. The Earth Solutions team would fog the area while large earthmoving shovels and bulldozers removed the smelly material to dump trucks and then to an approved hazardous waste dump site. The surrounding air became foul with dense odors as soon as digging started. Earth Solutions began fogging PureAyre utilizing the gas-powered backpacks provided. Within seconds, the offensive odors disappeared. “It was successful,” explained Cone, “and the ability to fog was just what was needed to apply PureAyre on such a large scale.”
A Great Idea
Cone also discovered that spraying PureAyre directly onto the fiber facemasks kept the odors from penetrating masks and upsetting the crew. He also gave the crew small spray bottles of PureAyre for their personal use. No one wants to walk into a restaurant smelling of rotting flesh!
With the decomposed animal remains removed and safely shipped to a hazardous waste landfill, all employees safe and sound, no more offending odors – all that could be sniffed was the sweet smell of success.
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