Updates to information on Effective Microorganisms™

I'm editing our website and digging through presentations, photos, and videos as the new computer I have allows me to edit most of these items.  It's fun and I think people will appreciate being able to access much of this information.  The new YouTube channel is getting some hits, and the Facebook group is starting to grow.  I am trying to do too much cross-posting, but am posting the videos in both places.

EM Videos

I found this video today on YouTube.  My wife is Japanese and told me what it says.  However, you can get the entire idea without knowing the words.  I thought I would share it here.  It is well done.

Tequila. No chaser.

Recently I was on the Sustain Lane site and saw an article on the tequila industry in Mexico. As with any industry, there are waste management issues that need to be addressed properly. Alcohol is a strong sanitizer. Coming direct from the factory, the wastewater will be high COD and this industry will also be high in BOD as it contains loads of plant materials left over from the processing.

As I read the article, I started wishing these manufacturing facilities were nearby so we could get our hands on the wastes. The waste materials from these plants could be used to make EM5 as wells as different types of bokashi. The fermentation process with EM•1® actually digests the alcohols into different types of sugars and would turn the entire tequila wastes into resources. Tequila, and other 80 proof alcohols are expensive. To have access to them would save our clients a tremendous amount of money, let alone the positive impact we could have on the local environment.

Wastewater treatment-Scottsdale, AZ 09

This Spring I conducted a three-week trial in Scottsdale, Arizona to see if we could compete with synthetic chemicals for odor control. The main product we were testing again was ferrous chloride. Ferrous is injected in the line to drop hydrogen sulfide levels.

This site is in a mini-mall parking lot on Scottsdale Avenue. Three sizable restaurants, a hotel, and several office spaces feed into this station. The daily flow rate into this lift station is about 30,000 gallons per day.

Odalogs were installed in the well before the lift station, one in the closest intersection about 1/2 mile away, and one last unit at the next lift station about 1 mile away. Levels without the AEM1 application were 1000ppm+ on influent, 250-350ppm in the manhole and 2-19ppm in the downstream lift station.

The influent wet well was spiking over 1000ppm of H2S from the day we started. We had set up an injection pump with an AEM1 solution as well as a misting system with an AEM1 and water solution to control the odor in the lift station. We had to adjust the injection pump several times to try to get the right dosing and the timing of the dosing correct as we do not want the product to be flushed out of the area too quickly so it can treat the area.

We had a mess up during the first week of application because the ferrous tank was not completely turned off and product was still feeding into the system, so the results from the first week were no good. The next couple of weeks we were able to guage how well the AEM1 was doing. The H2S in the manhole went up higher than it ever had before, going up as much as 800ppm. This demonstrated that the AEM1 is not as effective at odor control in solution during the first 1/2 mile in length in the system. At the next lift station, about 1 mile down the line, we were able to get the 7-day average down to 35ppm.

This test supplied us with some very useful data in the way of wastewater treatment. It demonstrated that AEM1 is effective at significantly reducing H2S when injected into a wastewater stream (as opposed to misting or fogging, which is nearly 100% effective), however, it needs time to be effective and that we should expect spikes in the sections of line between injection point and sampling point.

We were able to notice significant changes in the grease matt that was on the surface of the wetwell during this experiement. When we used the least amount of AEM1, we were not able to fully control the matt. However, when we used dosing rates of 10,000:1 or stronger, we were abel to completely digest the grease matt in a minimum of two days and were also able to maintain the digestion thereafter.