Mechanical Dredging

vs Bio-Dredging
Your waters are in bad shape. Organic sludge has covered the natural bottom and oozes
pollutants. The water is always murky, and turns to pea soup in the summer. Sometimes
the odor gets really bad, and, if there are still fish there, you haven't seen them in a while.
What can you do?

Mechanical Dredging

For many years, dredging has been the solution for dying ponds and rivers. Dredging
removes sediment, some excess nutrients, pollutants and organic matter. By increasing
the depth in this way, weed growth is discouraged, water temperature lowered and
oxygen levels increased. Though dredging can help in these ways, it only solves part of
the problem, and causes some others.

Mechanically removing sediment is extremely disruptive to the aquatic ecosystem.

Removing sediment and organic matter also removes the plants and animals of the
bottom community, which form the basis of life for higher animals. Further, dredging does
not often consider what the natural contours of a waterway should be. Near-shore areas
are deepened, eliminating shallow habitats, spawning and rearing grounds, changing
natural flow patterns and precluding recreational uses such as swimming. The sudden
increase in turbidity further degrades water quality, stressing fish and other organisms,
sometimes fatally. The changes in light patterns throw off reproductive cycles. It can take
weeks for the water to settle down, and in the end, the system is completely unbalanced.

Bio-Dredging

Using nature to heal itself is a gentle yet powerful way to treat a disturbed ecosystem.
Water quality problems are often due to a combination of factors and are manifested in a
number of ways. Poor water quality does not end with sludge removal. The water
column may be polluted by industrial effluent containing everything from table salt to
cyanide. Runoff and sewer discharge may contain fertilizer, pesticides, road salt, oil and
gas. It is the combination of these pollutants in addition to the detriments of sludge that
leads to a dying water.

Bacteria have evolved for millions of years, in any number of habitats, with an appetite for
a surprising number of compounds. Indeed, one of their roles in nature is to turn complex
substances, no longer usable to other life forms, back into simple, usable compounds.

Introducing bacteria in large quantities into a polluted system merely transplants nature's
engineering to the right place at the right time. Bacteria will degrade sludge and pollutants
dissolved in the water column, turning them into carbon dioxide, water and bacterial
biomass. As the system returns to normal, the water becomes clear, the sludge
disappears, and nature takes over, restabilizing the topography and ecology. The
bacteria themselves will die back to a normal population once their food source is
diminished. If additional polluted influent will continue to arrive in the environment, a
maintenance program will be setup, following biodredging, to keep the water clean and
prevent formation of future sludge.

Biotechnology is both more complete as a treatment and far less expensive than
mechanical treatment. Wet dredging has been estimated to cost approximately $40,000
to $150,000 per acre-foot of sludge, while Alken Clear-Flo® products
(1005, 1006 & 1015, depending on the level of contamination, costs 35 to 50% of the cost
of mechanical dredging, while accomplishing simultaneous water cleanup, the opposite of
mechanical dredging, which usually contributes increased pollution while buckets of
sludge are dug up and dragged from the waterway.

In some cases, additional equipment, such as aerators and bioreactors, is needed,

however, total cost is still well below that of mechanical dredging. Bacterial treatment
avoids unsightly machinery, ramp building and mounds of sludge. It also avoids creating a
second environmental problem: disposing of the sludge. There are few limitations:
Bacteria cannot degrade dirt, rock, sand or other inorganic substances. Alken Clear-
Flo® cannot survive in fluctuating extremes of temperature and pH or when high levels of
metals or biocides are present. Otherwise, there are few limitations.

Biodredging, Solusi untuk Atasi Lumpur

Pada Lagoon
March 13, 2014 Muti Pengolahan Air Limbah, Sludge Treatment 1

Tumpukan lumpur di dasar kolam merupakan salah satu persoalan bagi instalasi yang
memanfaatkan lagoon (kolam) dalam pengolahan air limbah mereka. Endapan pada dasar kolam dapat
menimbulkan pendangkalan sehingga volume efektif kolam menjadi berkurang. Pengerukan (dredging) secara
mekanik menggunakan mesin alternatif yang dapat dilakukan untuk mengurangi lumpur pada dasar kolam.
Langkah tersebut memang dapat mengatasi masalah pendangkalan secara cepat namun dari segi biaya tidak
sedikit yang harus dikeluarkan. Biaya yang dimaksud antara lain biaya sewa atau perawatan alat keruk, bahan
bakar, dan tenaga kerja. Selain pengoperasian alat yang harus dilakukan oleh operator yang terlatih, timbul
pula resiko alat pengeruk merusak perpipaan maupun lining di bagian dasar kolam.

Opsi yang lebih ramah biaya dan lingkungan dikenal dengan biodredging. Istilah biodredging merupakan
terminologi populer di industri untuk menyatakan proses reduksi lumpur di dasar kolam menggunakan bantuan
mikroorganisme. Karena yang bekerja untuk mengurangi lumpur adalah mikroorganisme, maka perlu diingat
bahwa lumpur yang dimaksud adalah yang sifatnya organik. Jadi jika endapan yang terbentuk adalah endapan
anorganik (misalnya material yang terbawa oleh air hujan), jangan berharap metode biodredging dapat
menyelesaikan masalah lagoon Anda. Dengan biodredging maka lumpur di-digest secara in-situ (di lokasi
yang sama) sehingga pada akhirnya dapat mengurangi volume lumpur di bagian dasar lagoon.

Pada prinsipnya, biodredging adalah menambahkan sejumlah mikroorganisme dari jenis yang diinginkan ke
dalam lagoon untuk membantu mengurai material organik yang terdapat di dalam lumpur. Jenis bakteri yang
digunakan dapat bermacam-macam tergantung dari kondisi lagoon. Dikutip dari blog Solitude Lake
Management, dalam proses biodredging terdapat dua macam dosis bakteri yang diaplikasikan. Pada permulaan
proses biodredging, ke dalam lagoon ditambahkan bakteri yang diinginkan dalam konsentrasi tinggi.
Selanjutnya, untuk memastikan bahwa tersedia bakteri dalam jumlah yang memadai dilakukan penambahan
dengan dosis pemeliharaan.

Berikut ini adalah keunggulan biodredging yang dikutip dari situs milik DSC Aquatic Solutions:

 Aman bagi lingkungan

 Biaya lebih rendah , sekitar sepertiga dari pengerukan secara mekanik (mechanical dredging)
 Tidak mengganggu ekologi lagoon maupun menyebabkan kekeruhan pada lagoon
 Tidak perlu melakukan pemindahan lumpur ke lokasi lain karena proses digestion dilakukan di tempat
 Tidak ada kebisingan dari alat berat
 Tidak merusak lining di bagian dasar lagoon
 Dapat mengurai senyawa hidrokarbon minyak bumi serta FOG (fat, oil, and grease)
 Tidak memerlukan kolam pengendapan maupun lahan pembuangan lumpur (dumping sites)
 Menurunkan BOD dan COD
 Meningkatkan konsentrasi oksigen terlarut