GK-IT Environmental Services has announced that it is diversifying from the mining industry to the petrochemical and oil refinery sector.
Focusing on the bioremediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated soils, the company believes that gasoline and diesel range organic compounds can be degraded to levels below 100 parts per million using its products, while volatile, semi-volatile, and polyaromatic hydrocarbons can be degraded to below 50 parts per billion.
This is in accordance with the National Environmental Management Waste Act 59 of 2008 (NEMWA), of which Chapter 4 Part 8 contains provisions for contaminated land. This is defined as “the presence in or under any land, site, buildings or structures of a substance or micro-organism above the concentration that is normally present in or under that land, which substance or micro-organism directly or indirectly affects or may affect the quality of soil or the environment adversely.”
GK-IT Environmental Services, a subsidiary of the Man-Dirk group, has developed a range of bioremediation products based on micro-organisms such as aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, fungi, yeasts, and moulds.
The company’s Director, Chris Cooper, said: “We are focusing on the petchem and oil refinery sector as a potential growth area, as there is a considerable risk of spillage and contamination here. The traditional approach to contaminated soil has been a simple ‘dig-and-dump’ approach, which involves physically removing and transporting the material to a toxic landfill site. This not only incurs hazardous-transportation costs, but also poses a major environmental risk while en route.”
GK-IT Environmental Services can offer an ‘on-site’ solution premised on returning contaminated soil to its original pristine condition, a process that normally takes 10 to 12 weeks. The company has a production facility in Randfontein, and also manufactures products for other suppliers.
Cooper added: “Our target customers are essentially any customers that use petrochemical products, be it oil, diesel, or petrol.”
GK-IT Environmental Services’ product range covers oil, petrochemical, and chemical absorbents, bioremediation products, ‘green’ degreasing chemicals, spillage kits, recycling and waste stations, oil collection stations, and oil/water coalescing plate separators.