Penetron Technology Prevents MIC at Piper Creek Pump House

The upgrade to the Piper Creek pump station in Kansas City, Kansas was completed in December 2020. Penetron’s innovative antimicrobial concrete admixture was utilized to provide the concrete structures with the much needed protection against microbially-induced corrosion (MIC).

The $3.1 million Piper Creek Regional Improvement Phase 1 mandated by the Unified Government of Wyandotte County in Kansas City, Kansas comprised a new pump station, a force main sewer, and gravity sewers. The improvements were made to service the newly completed Piper Creek Elementary School, which opened in Fall 2020, and the rapidly growing surrounding community.

Previously, the Piper Creek area of Kansas City had been served by Pump Stations 67 and 63, which were both near design capacity by 2019 due to an expanding community population. Recognizing the need for a long-term plan for the Piper Creek drainage basin, the city government posted the construction project for a new regional pump station, which allowed the consolidation of the smaller facilities. The new pump station has an initial capacity of 2.4 million gallons/day (MGD), which will increase to 7.2 MGD in a final build-out phase with added pumps and a future parallel force main sewer.
 

Meeting Required Concrete Performance Levels

The Engineers of Record were asked to draw up a project plan, and design and manage the subsequent construction of the new pump station, as well as the new sewer mains, including the gravity sewer pipe and force main sewer

Working with the local Penetron expert, Geiger Ready-Mix ran trial batches treated with Penetron’s antimicrobial admixture out to the construction site to show the engineers – and the city officials – that Penetron’s solution would fully meet the project’s performance requirements where other proposed products had fallen short.

“Once the engineers saw the consistent performance of the Penetron antimicrobial admixture, the project moved along smoothly,” explains Christopher Chen, Director of The Penetron Group.
 

Destroying Bacteria Before It Harms Concrete

Similar to PENETRON ADMIX, a crystalline waterproofing solution, Penetron’s antimicrobial admixture is added to the concrete mix during batching. The specialty admixture uses an electro-physical mechanism to destroy the cell walls of micro-organisms, such as thiobacillus bacteria, which converts hydrogen sulfide gas (H₂S) into biogenic sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄). The formation of biogenic sulfuric acid causes concrete to deteriorate, which is known as microbially-induced corrosion (MIC). This protection helps keep the concrete matrix intact.

Penetron’s antimicrobial admixture is a permanent solution. Once it’s added to the concrete mix, it is an integral part of the concrete matrix and is leach resistant. The effectiveness of the antimicrobial admixture is not lessened by repeated contact with bacteria.

Christopher Chen adds: “The antimicrobial admixture will continue to provide the needed MIC protection and help reduce future maintenance costs for the treated concrete structures.”