Stone Container (Pulp/Paper Mill) – Savannah Plant, was faced with a major problem of total suspended solids and biological oxygen demand in a mill aeration pond. The pond had a 24 million gallon per day waste stream, and the average daily TSS ranged from 6,000 pounds to as high as 29,000 pounds. BOD was also a major concern in this aeration pond. Levels ranged from 70,000 to 210,000.

Organic Products Company was asked to treat the pond with the objective being to reduce the TSS and BOD by at least 50% while maintaining cost-effectiveness. OPC contracted with a firm in the field of microbiology to formulate a microbial product which would use the Histosol OP-9840 as the substrate and accomplish the desired results. After several months of laboratory research, the Histosol OP-Bio product was ready for field trials. The microbiologists discovered that the Histosol substrate was an excellent incubation medium for microorganisms. The substrate has an extremely high concentration of organic matter, packed with micro and macronutrients that provide the microbes with an excellent food source. The Histosol product was described as a “steroid” for microbes. The major problem associated with the use of microbial-based products has historically been the “lag-time” needed before the product begins to function. By using the Histosol as the substrate, or medium, for the microorganisms, the “lag-time” became significantly reduced. Laboratory results also concluded that by incubating microbes in the Histosol product the number of colony forming units per milliliter also increased exponentially. After just 24 hours of incubation, the CFU/ml increased 10 fold. After 10 days of incubation, the CFU/ml count was 32 times as great when compared to the count on the day prior to the incubation.

The Histosol OP-Bio product was added to the mill aeration pond (24 million gallon daily waste stream) at the rate of 2 PPM for a 10-day test period. The TSS levels prior to treatment averaged 14,125 pounds per day. At the end of the 10-day test period, a total of 500 gallons of the OP-Bio product had been metered into the pond. The average daily TSS reduced to 5,810 pounds following the treatment. This equates to a 58.9% reduction in TSS.

The BOD decreased to an average of 16,000, down 27,875, or 63.5%, following the treatment.