The capacity of landfills to receive waste is limited and continues to decline, prices are rising significantly, so new ways must be found to reuse waste.

Sand from foundries that can no longer be used is referred to as waste foundry sand. Around 18 million tons of such foundry waste sand are produced in Europe every year, and even large landfills often do not have sufficient capacity to accept it. On the other hand, contamination by PAHs and potentially toxic elements (PTE) prevents reuse. The distances and transportation costs to landfills are increasing for foundry companies, which is why alternatives to the environmentally friendly treatment of this waste are needed.

It is therefore important to remove the impurities (PAHs, PTE) in an environmentally friendly way and thus enable the used foundry sands to be reused – ideally one that can replace the unnecessary consumption of valuable primary quartz sands in the manufacture of various products.

Bioleaching by bacterial consortia microlive® and appropriately balanced nutrients ekocomplex® serves to release metallic impurities and to degradate PAH and other toxic compounds.

Biodegradation of toxic compounds by microorganisms is already widespread worldwide – mainly when cleaning up contaminated sites. Compared to traditional methods (chemical, thermal, physical) this is much cheaper and can be used for larger quantities.

Our different bacterial consortia microlive® can extract a wide variety of potentially toxic elements (PTE), using toxic compounds as food and breaking them down into safe end products. We have registered our technology as an EU patent on ecological release of elements and degradation of organic substances using heterotrophic microorganisms, confirmed in its applicability to over 100 different materials – including 50 industrial minerals that have been cleaned with an efficiency of over 90% and proven in several bioleaching operations in the EU.

You may contact us for more information.