Innovative Green Technology Provider
- PLANTECO Environmental Consultants, LLC, is a United States SBA certified 8(a), HUBZone, Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) founded in 2000 by a group of dedicated scientists and experienced professionals who saw a need for better approaches to environmental clean-up. Headquartered in Athens, Georgia, PLANTECO is a recognized leader in providing cost-effective green solutions and sustainable technology, consulting, feasibility studies, turnkey innovative remediation of contaminated soils and water, and engineered green remediation products applications. PLANTECO has participated in every phase of sustainable and innovative green solutions development and deployment - basic and applied research, proof-of-concept, pilot testing, and full scale deployment at project sites. Our engineered green technologies have been clearly demonstrated in a wide range of government and industry projects, as detailed on PLANTECO's website.
PLANTECO is an advocate of green technologies, green building design and sustainable solutions for environmental clean-up. PLANTECO's core products and service include:
-Treatment of agricultural, industrial and municipal wastewater using natural green materials
-photosynthesizing microbial mats and plants
-design and management of Land Applications Systems (LAS) for treatment of municipal wastewater
-production of biomass for green energy and natural fertilizer
-Green jobs and electrical safety training
-Cleanup of petrochemicals including oil spills on land and water
-Cleanup of military munitions, chlorinated solvents, pesticides and metals in soil, sediment and groundwater
-Sustainability consulting
-Constructed treatment wetlands including floating wetlands
-Land Surveying
-Expert witness and litigation support
PLANTECO has provided technologies and environmental consulting services in support of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Defense (US Navy, USACE, USAF, US Marine's, Army Environmental Center),Department of Agriculture (USDA), multiple State Agencies and Private Industry.
PLANTECO currently supports HUD's Green Building and Energy Efficiency programs for the Bureau of Public and Indian Housing and the HOPE VI programs. At PLANTECO, we are proud to provide our clients with innovative solutions to meet their complex challenges with a broad spectrum of environmental services and products. We are dedicated to making a difference around the globe by building strong relationships with all stakeholders.
About our Founder:
Valentine Nzengung, PhD, President & CEO
Dr. Valetnine Nzengung received both his Master's and Doctoral degrees in Environmental Engineering and Environmental GeoChemistry, respectively, in 1993 from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. He is a Professor of Environmental GeoChemistry at the University of Georgia. He is recognized nationally and internationally for the development and applications of multiple innovative and engineered green technologies currently applied to cleanup soil and water. Under his leadership PLANTECO has grown to become a recognized leader in providing sustainable technologies and prodcuts for addressing contamination in soils, sediment and water.
Other Products:
Green Cement (EcoCementTM) is essentially a cement made from waste materials (waste paper sludge ash and waste glass). It has potentially wide application for constructive use.
Besides its potential uses for the construction industry in the manufacture of concrete and mortar, due to its very high resistance to chemical attack and light weight compared to Portland cement, EcoCementTM can be used as:
-cement for the stabilization of hazardous waste
-in concrete works in chemically aggressive environments such as seawater
-light weight and high strength construction materials
-stabilization of soils (sulfate rich soils) and other related earth materials
-for use in base course construction and other general earth and foundation building work
Petroleum Remediation Product (PRP)
PRP is especially well adapted for moderate to small spills in areas such as industrial plant settings (such as cooling ponds and tanks) shorelines - whether rocky or sandy-marinas, railroad tracks, oil wells/oil fields, maintenance facilities, truck roll-overs, and marshes/wetlands remediation where PRP can mitigate the collateral damage to the ecosystem caused by clean up crews.
Microbial Mats
PLANTECO uses versatile photosynthesizing Microbial Mats to treat wastewater and produce reusable “Green Water” and “Green Energy”. Our engineered green Microbial Mat Aquatic Treatment System (MATS) utilizes contaminants in wastewater, greenhouse gases and sunlight to rapidly produce biomass that is harvested for bioenergy production (biogas and biodiesel) and organic fertilizer for soils.
Microbial Mats are used for:
Water Quality - Treatment of wastewater to produce “Green Water” for reuse.
- Bioenergy - Biomass production for “Green Energy”
-Carbon Credits - Entrapment of greenhouse gases and rapid bio-conversion of carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and proteins for bioenergy (Green energy) production and release of oxygen into the atmosphere
-Bioremediation - Passive treatment of municipal and agricultural wastewater, landfill leachate, acid mine waste, pink water, militarization/demilitarization wastewater. Microbial Mats remove metals from wastewater and degrade organic and some inorganic contaminants.
The mature microbial mat consortium is a dynamic and highly adaptable microbial community that can be applied in a variety of uses related to agriculture, aquaculture, bioremediation of contaminants and energy production. The following summary lists actual and potential applications of mats:
1. Treatment of municipal and agricultural wastewate
2. As a fish feed for tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus or Tilapia nilotica
3. Aquaculture filter, transforming nitrogenous fish wastes into benign products. The process involves rapid sequestration of ammonia from water.
4. Soil amendments, such as fertilization via nitrogen fixation and plant growth stimulators
5. Sequestration of heavy metals
6. Degradation of recalcitrant toxic organic contaminants
7. Removal of radionuclides from low level radioactive waste
8. Biopolymers production
PATENTS HELD:
1)Surface Application and Mobilization of Nutrient Amendments (SAMNAS) Simultaneous in-situ bioremediation of perchlorate, explosives, petrochemicals, and other organic contaminants in vadose zone source areas (soils and sediment) and groundwater.
2)Rapid Chemical Degradation of Munitions Constituents using MuniRem®. Bulk reductants are used to generate free radicals that once generated react very rapidly with oxidized organic compounds, such as nitroaromatics (DNTs, ADNTs, TNT, RDX, HMX, Picric Acid, etc.), and chlorinated solvents. Also, sulfide species generated during the reaction precipitate metals as the metal sulfides. Thus, degradation of oxidized organics and precipitation of metals is achieved simultaneously.
3) SURFACTANT-MODIFIED EARTH MATERIALS for the
treatment of perchlorate and other emerging
contaminants in water and brines.
4)and 5) Microbial mat aquatic treatment system. (2 patents) - environmental remediation, chlorinated solvents remediation, environmental services, environmental consulting, green building design, energy efficiency training, land surveying, bio-reactors, cleanup of petrochemiclas, electrical safety training, expert witness testimony, constructed treatment wetlands, bio-mass green energy, bio-remediation, phytoremediation, multi-incremental sampling, innovative technology solutions, sustainable technology, perchlorate remediation, emerging contaminants, hydrogeology, urban planning, green financial analysis, remedial design, operations & maintenance
Green Building and Energy Efficiency Design
