Patent ID: 6884352

Claim:
A process for the creation of an iron sulfide microbial geochemical treatment zone to treat toxic and harmful contaminants in ground water and in the soil, the process comprising the steps of: (A) locating a contamination zone in soil and ground water containing a target contaminant; (B) introducing a quantity of labile organic compound to the contamination zone; (C) adding a sulfate reducing heterotrophic soil bacteria to the contamination zone, oxidizing the organic while reducing a naturally occurring sulfate present within the soil and ground water; (D) adding additional sulfate to the contamination zone to complete the redox reactions where the naturally occurring sulfate is insufficient, producing a quantity of HS within the contamination zone, which in turn reacts with a naturally occurring iron (III) present within the contamination zone; (E) forming a deposit of an iron sulfide (Fe x S y ) within the contamination zone; (F) oxidizing the target contaminant; and (G) contemporaneously creating an iron sulfide microbial geochemical treatment zone further oxidizing any target remaining contaminant which may pass through or present itself within the iron sulfide microbial geochemical treatment zone swept into such treatment zone via ground water advection, dispersion, or molecular diffusion.