New in-situ process for decontamination and washing of railway and harbor ballast without excavation or replacement, and simultaneous decontamination of subsoil and groundwater.

Short summary A Swiss SME active in the field of environmental technologies offers a physicochemical solution for rapid, in-situ decontamination of railway and harbor ballast, and treatment of subsoil and groundwater from organic contaminants and herbicide leftovers. The SME is looking for partners/representatives for license, joint venture, commercial or technical cooperation agreements.

Full description Railway ballast, train tracks, and ballast in the harbors must be clean from organic leftovers, spills, and organic leftovers for safety, operational, and environmental requirements. Today's standard market solution is excavation and replacement of the ballast by special complicated mechanical equipment and washing or landfilling the used ballast. However, this solution is expensive, complicated, and requires a stop of work and operation on the train tracks or harbor during the excavation and replacement. Therefore, additional methods for efficient, rapid, and non-disruptive ballast treatment are required. The Swiss startup company offers a solution based on the in situ synthetic generation of highly concentrated superoxide radicals with surfactants and phase transfer catalysts. This approach allows efficient in-situ washing of ballast stones and decontaminating subsoil and groundwater layers. This environmentally friendly process is efficient for a wide range of organic materials. The technology can be applied for contaminants up to 10% at a fraction of the cost with a conversion rate of up to 99%. Moreover, this technology can be combined with a vegetation control solution. This holistic solution allows it possible to treat ballast without excavation, provide vegetation control, and treat soil and groundwater from hydrocarbons and herbicide leftovers. This is the only solution that can deal with all the problems simultaneously and without removing and replacing the stones. The processes are patented and granted. The technological stability, efficiency, and environmental impacts were independently attested by laboratory tests carried out by TÜV Süd, Germany. The technology can be applied in the market of vegetation control, railway maintenance, and ballast treatment in the harbors. The company is looking for partners/representatives based on the license, joint venture, commercial or technical cooperation agreement.

Advantages and innovations The main advantages of the ballast treatment process are: - Rapid in situ process - Non-disruptive (ballast excavation and replacement is not required) - Achieves higher conversion rates than all other existing solutions - The solution adapted to the existing equipment for railway maintenance and vegetation control - Robust and can operate over a range of environmental conditions - Forgiving and manifests minor sensitivity to operating conditions - Treatment of three problems of the railway maintenance market at the same time: stones, weed control and soil and groundwater decontamination - Environmentally superior compared to existing solutions and features a lower CO2 footprint than other competing technologies - Efficient where other approaches are almost useless - Mobile - Cost-effective
Contact / source: NEXT EEN Widgets (europa.eu)