It’s a line of new products that closely resembles a miracle: oil-eating, all-natural microbes that convert oil in bilges or spilled in waterways into beneficial fatty acids. At the Fishermen’s Forum in Rockport in February, Clean Water Solutions, Inc. of Newport, R.I. unveiled four products: Oil Eradicators, Clean Water Microbial Powder, Clean Water Blue and Aquatabs.
Each of the products contains microbes of the Archaea family that when added to water and air, turn into a “bio-reactor” that breaks polluting hydrocarbons into water-soluble fatty acids beneficial to the environment.
“My partner, Bill Young, had a foam business. He also had the microbes. The problem with the microbes was finding a way to store them so they could be used without multiplying so quickly they all died, and then finding a way to disperse them on water,” said Susanne Homer, vice president. “Foam worked.”
Young found a way to store dormant microbes in a powder using a bentonite clay carrier. The clay can be formed into tablets without binders or additives so concentration levels won’t be compromised. Tablets are inserted into an open cell foam carrier to make the Oil Eradicators. When applied, the foam floats, activates the microbes and absorbs 32 times its weight in oil. When the microbes are activated, they double their numbers every 20 minutes, digesting hydrocarbons such as MTBE, oil, gas, diesel, nitrates, kerosene, marine deposits, animal feces, fish blood and odors. The Oil Eradicator can last up to 90 days.
“This year, we’re trying for two markets, marine and municipal. The marine market is the smallest but the most vocal and visible. People who own boats have a lot going on and their members of their community. They’re connected,” said Homer, herself a boat captain.
The soap can be used along with one of the Oil Eradicators to clean the bilge, said Homer. “Toss in one of the Oil Eradicators, put in some soap and take the boat for a ride, preferably in a bit of a chop. The action of the boat will wash the oil off the sides of the bilge into the water where the eradicator will absorb it.”
Clean Water products can be used for major oil spills or for the smallest at-home cleanup. “You change your oil in the driveway, you spill a little. Take some of the microbial powder, mix it with water and pour it on the spill. Two things happen – the microbes eat the oil, and the water washes the fatty acids into the lawn, where it provides nutrients to the lawn.”
“People don’t believe how easy it is,” said Homer. “They’re really surprised when they see it work. Anybody can do it and it doesn’t cost and arm and a leg. But this is going to require a lot of education.”
Soon after the Forum, Homer and Young were called by the mayor of New Bedford, Mass., who is interested in seeing how their product would work for the city, “not only for the harbor, but for drainage ditches and stormwater runoff.” A minor oil spill in the old whaling capital’s harbor also won them a meeting with Franklin Environmental, one of the regional environmental companies responsible for oil cleanup work.
The microbes occur in nature, in salt water. Young devised the patent-pending system for gathering, growing and storing them dormant in clay.
“People think salt water cleans things,” said Homer. “It’s not the salt water, it’s the microbes in it.” Cleaning with chlorine kills pathogens, but it kills helpful microbes as well, Homer pointed out. The microbes also work in septic tanks, where they will eat ammonia and kill smells. Homer worked for Hamilton Marine until last fall, when she joined Young in the business. When she joined the company, Young had only one foam-based microbe product and it wasn’t selling. They expanded the line of products, changed the name and began serious marketing efforts. Hamilton Marine carries the Clean Water line.
“Microbes have been around forever. All we did is collect, propagate and come up with a unique delivery system, for a controlled deployment of the microbes,” said Homer. “Our process is patent-pending, but we challenge other companies to come up with other products, because the need is so great. If there are more products, it spreads the education around.”
“I want everyone and their mother to use it,” said Homer. “Because they should.”