Nels Cone, is an environmental project manager for Earth Solutions
NW, LLC, a Bellevue, WA 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 asked 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 worked 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 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 cadaverene and putricene (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 that was approved by the contractor,
the regulatory agencies, and the developers. The Earth Solutions team
fogged the area while large earth moving shovels and bulldozers removed
the smelly material to dump trucks and then to an approved hazardous
waste dumpsite. 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 the mask and upsetting the
crew. He also gave small spray bottles of PureAyre to the crew 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.
Contact Earth Solutions NW, LLC at www.earthsolutionsnw.com for more information on their geotechnical and environmental services.
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