Calcium Peroxide

Calcium Peroxide Supplier for Aerobic Bioremediation

Most calcium peroxide orders start with the same story: the contamination is petroleum, the bacteria that can break it down are already in the ground, and they’re starving for oxygen. That’s the job this product does. Hepure supplies remediation-grade calcium peroxide (CaO₂) to customers in the U.S. and around the world — a fine granular oxygen-release compound for supplementing oxygen in the microbial degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil, groundwater, sludge, and solids.

What is calcium peroxide (CaO₂)?

Calcium peroxide is the inorganic compound CaO₂: a calcium ion bound to a peroxide ion (O₂²⁻), molecular weight 72.07 g/mol, supplied as a pale yellow-white powder or fine granule. It is sparingly soluble in water and reacts with it slowly to give calcium hydroxide and oxygen (2 CaO₂ + 2 H₂O → 2 Ca(OH)₂ + O₂), which is why it is used as a slow-release oxygen source in bioremediation, and outside remediation as a dough conditioner and a seed-coating oxygen source. Pure calcium peroxide holds 22% oxygen by weight; a commercial grade holds proportionally less, and the assay is on the certificate of analysis.

CaO₂ is not what you get from burning calcium. Calcium metal reacting with oxygen gives calcium oxide, quicklime: 2 Ca + O₂ → 2 CaO. Calcium peroxide is made by reacting a calcium salt or calcium hydroxide with hydrogen peroxide.

How Aerobic Bioremediation Uses It

Microorganisms break petroleum hydrocarbons down to carbon dioxide and water, using the hydrocarbons as an energy source or co-metabolizing them alongside one. Where the right bacteria are present but conditions don’t favor their growth, bio-stimulation — adding air, organic substrates, nutrients, or other amendments — gets them working. In petroleum plumes, the amendment that’s almost always missing is oxygen.

The Oxygen Math

This is the arithmetic we walk through on nearly every calcium peroxide call, because it decides the order size:

• Stoichiometrically, 3.1 mg/L of oxygen is required to biodegrade 1 mg/L of hydrocarbons — roughly 3 pounds of oxygen per pound of petroleum.
• Groundwater saturated with dissolved oxygen holds only 6–12 mg/L (depending on temperature), so fully saturated groundwater can degrade just 2–4 mg/L of hydrocarbons before the oxygen is gone. Natural recharge can’t keep up with a real plume.
• Each pound of pure calcium peroxide releases 0.22 pounds of oxygen (32 lb of O₂ from 144 lb of CaO₂ in the equation below) — so 100 pounds of hydrocarbon mass needs roughly 300 pounds of oxygen, or about 1,400 pounds of pure CaO₂, more for a commercial assay, before accounting for background oxygen demand and distribution losses.

Because calcium peroxide produces dissolved oxygen, none of it is lost as bubbles escaping the aquifer — every pound goes to work. Send us contaminant mass and treatment volume and we’ll turn the math into a quantity estimate with the site-specific corrections applied.

The Chemistry: Slow Release by Design

Calcium peroxide has very low solubility, which is exactly what makes it useful: it decomposes slowly in the presence of water, releasing oxygen over prolonged periods rather than all at once.

2 CaO₂ + 2 H₂O → 2 Ca(OH)₂ + O₂

Two practical notes from that equation. First, the calcium hydroxide byproduct raises pH in the treatment zone — usually manageable, but a site with poorly buffered groundwater deserves a bench check before full application. Second, the decomposition also passes through hydrogen peroxide and can generate hydroxyl radicals, so calcium peroxide contributes some direct chemical oxidation of organics on top of the oxygen it delivers to the microbes. For fast, aggressive oxidation, though, it isn’t the tool — that’s hydrogen peroxide; calcium peroxide is the slow, sustained partner in the same family of oxidants.

Methods of Application

The primary application is injecting a calcium peroxide slurry into direct-push borings (Geoprobe or similar), varying the slurry by depth and location to ensure an adequate oxygen supply throughout the contaminant plume. It can also be mixed directly with contaminated soil for use as backfill or for haul-off, placed in drilled boreholes to create an oxygen-releasing bio-barrier across a plume, or placed in the bottom of an excavation that has penetrated the saturated zone. See how these fit into petroleum hydrocarbon programs and the broader bioremediation amendment line.

Common Questions

How much calcium peroxide do I need? Start from contaminant mass: 3 lb of oxygen per lb of hydrocarbon, divided by 0.22 lb of oxygen per lb of pure CaO₂, about 14 lb of product per lb of hydrocarbon, adjusted for the assay. Then add for background demand and delivery losses — which is site-specific, and where a five-minute call saves an under-sized order.

Calcium peroxide or hydrogen peroxide? Different jobs. Hydrogen peroxide is fast and short-lived — oxidation and a quick oxygen pulse. Calcium peroxide is slow and sustained — months of oxygen for aerobic biodegradation of BTEX and fuel hydrocarbons. Many sites use both in sequence.

What is calcium peroxide used for? In remediation, as a slow-release oxygen source for aerobic biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil and groundwater, placed by injection, soil mixing, boreholes or excavation backfill. Outside remediation it is used as a dough conditioner, a seed-coating oxygen source and in some wastewater and aquaculture applications; Hepure supplies the remediation grade.

Will it change my groundwater pH? It raises it, via the calcium hydroxide byproduct. Most aquifers buffer it fine; low-alkalinity sites should bench-test first.

Call 866-727-4776 — Pat Randall (x1) in the West, Bob Kelley, Ph.D. (x2) in the East — or request more information for pricing, lead time, and a quantity estimate.

References

• Curtis, F., & Lammey, J. (1998). Intrinsic remediation of a diesel fuel plume.
• Das, N., & Chandran, P. (2011). Microbial Degradation of Petroleum Hydrocarbon Contaminants: An Overview. Biotechnology Research International.