SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aerojet, a GenCorp (NYSE:GY) company, and CDM announced today that their joint project, which demonstrated effective, in-place removal of perchlorate from contaminated soil, has won the American Academy of Environmental Engineers' (AAEE) 2010 Superior Achievement Award for Environmental Engineering Excellence. The award was presented today at a luncheon conference held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The winning project used CDM's innovative, patented Gaseous Electron Donor Injection Technology (GEDIT) and demonstrated that indigenous bacteria in soil will consume perchlorate and nitrate in the presence of injected hydrogen gas. The overall destruction of perchlorate and nitrate was greater than 90 percent within the 20-foot-diameter target area to a depth of 50 feet. While previous remediation technologies have been effective in treating perchlorate contamination in groundwater, the GEDIT process is able to treat contamination in deep soil where contaminants persist. According to Dr. Pat Evans, the CDM vice president who developed and researched the process, "Using a gaseous electron donor capitalizes on the diffusivity of gas and its ability to travel through tight soil formations, such as silt and clay, to boost the capacity of the bacteria to breakdown the contamination."
