There are billions of microorganisms in a handful of soil. Including fungi, microorganisms account for a significant portion of the Earth’s biomass, and by cell count they vastly outnumber all other forms of life combined.
In collaboration with EnBiorganic Technologies, we have spent years researching and applying the biological processes that make these microorganisms so effective at breaking down organic material. Together, we have studied and refined the use of naturally occurring Bacillus strains that work effectively in combination and can function under both oxygen-rich and oxygen-limited conditions.
Our work has focused on translating these natural processes into practical, scalable solutions for wastewater, surface water, soils, ponds, and agricultural waste systems. By cultivating and deploying carefully selected microbial communities, we can support the biological processing of accumulated organic matter, improve nutrient cycling, and help systems make better use of their existing biological capacity.
Through our field work and research with EnBiorganic, we have applied these principles across a range of real-world environments and loading conditions. The result is a scalable, cost-effective, nature-based approach to biological treatment that can complement existing infrastructure and management practices.
Rather than attempting to replace natural processes, our approach is to harness and amplify them—using the biology that already drives decomposition in natural ecosystems to help solve some of the most persistent challenges facing wastewater, surface water, soil, and agricultural waste management.
Spadefoot is proud to be New York’s exclusive licensee as they bring this revolutionary technology to market. Their flagship unit, the EBS (above), is a microbial generator no bigger than a kitchen island.
Each day, the EBS grows and dispenses in volume the strains necessary to consume the excess nutrients. The EBS facilitates the activity of naturally occurring microbial metabolic pathways associated with organic matter decomposition, carbon cycling, nutrient transformation, and related biochemical processing mechanisms commonly present within sediments, wastewater systems, manure storage environments, treatment lagoons, and associated water management infrastructure.
Wastewater treatment plants are designed to remove organic matter from wastewater, but doing so comes at a cost. Energy-intensive aeration, sludge handling, transportation, and disposal can represent a significant portion of a plant’s operating expenses.
Our EnBiorganic Bio-treatment System (EBS) provides a biological way to help reduce those costs. A single EBS microbial generator installed at or serving a wastewater treatment facility can support the treatment of approximately 1 to 4 million gallons of wastewater per day. The system cultivates carefully selected strains of naturally occurring Bacillus and continuously introduces the resulting microbial population into the wastewater stream, typically upstream of the treatment plant.
These facultative microorganisms can process organic matter under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. By beginning the biological breakdown of organic material before it reaches the treatment plant, EBS can reduce the amount of material that ultimately has to be processed and disposed of as sludge. At the same time, supporting biological activity throughout the system can reduce the treatment burden placed on energy-intensive processes such as aeration.
The results can be substantial. At the Silver Springs sewage treatment plant in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, solid waste was reduced by approximately 25% after 45 days and 50% after 180 days of treatment. The resulting reduction in sludge handling, transportation, and disposal costs provided a return on investment measured in months.
And the biology matters. EBS does not rely on harsh chemicals or an artificial chemical treatment process. It uses facultative microbial communities that work alongside the microorganisms already present in wastewater and the surrounding environment. When excess organic material and nutrients are available, the introduced microorganisms continue to grow and participate in the same fundamental biological processes that drive decomposition in natural ecosystems.
The result is a nature-based approach that can help wastewater systems process more organic material, produce less residual sludge, reduce energy demand, and get more performance out of the infrastructure they already have.
We are employing nature to heal nature, putting the right microbes to work. When the problem is excess nutrients, the solution is to introduce in volume the naturally occurring microbes that consume those nutrients. With that simple proposition, we can dramatically improve the performance and lower the costs of operating a sewage treatment plant.
organisms and is not designed to operate through a pesticidal mode of action. Rather, the system operates through biological decomposition and nutrient transformation processes associated with naturally occurring facultative microbial metabolism.
Ponds and lakes impaired by excess nutrients face a persistent problem: organic matter accumulates in the sediment, oxygen is depleted, and the resulting conditions can perpetuate poor water quality long after the original nutrient inputs have been reduced.
Our EnBiorganic Bio-treatment System (EBS) provides a biological approach to addressing this accumulated organic matter. An EBS microbial generator produces a continuous supply of naturally occurring microbial communities that are introduced directly into the water body. These microorganisms support the biological breakdown of accumulated organic material while also participating in the cycling and transformation of nutrients within the system.
For ponds and lakes with significant organic sediment accumulation, this offers an alternative to conventional dredging. Dredging can be expensive, highly disruptive, and temporary, particularly when the underlying sources of organic loading remain. EBS instead works within the existing ecosystem to progressively process the organic material that contributes to poor water quality.
The approach is scalable. Smaller ponds may require a single microbial generator, while larger water bodies can be treated using multiple units strategically distributed throughout the system. Because the microorganisms are continuously cultivated and introduced, treatment can be maintained over time rather than relying on a single intensive intervention.
The potential application is substantial. Long Island alone contains dozens of ponds and lakes affected by nutrient enrichment from runoff, fertilizer, septic systems, atmospheric deposition, and other sources. Across New York and the United States, thousands of freshwater systems face similar challenges.
Restoring these systems does not always require removing the ecosystem itself to fix it. By supporting the biological processes that naturally break down accumulated organic matter and cycle nutrients, EBS provides a cost-effective, nature-based approach to restoring healthier freshwater environments—helping ponds and lakes once again support fish, frogs, turtles, and the diverse aquatic communities that depend on them.
Our ability to process organic material at scale has significant applications for agriculture. When our microbial generators are used to treat animal manure or plant material, the organic material is biologically processed and transformed into a nutrient-rich product containing beneficial soil microorganisms.
A current pilot project in Iowa demonstrates the potential of this approach. At the West Liberty Swine Facility, treated hog manure is being applied to an adjacent corn field, where its effects on soil and crop performance are being evaluated. The objective is straightforward: transform an abundant agricultural waste stream into a useful soil amendment rather than treating it solely as a disposal problem.
EBS can significantly reduce the volume and organic burden of animal waste while producing a biologically active end product suitable for agricultural use. Instead of relying entirely on manufactured fertilizers and the energy required to produce them, agricultural operations have the opportunity to recover nutrients already present in their waste streams and return them to the soil.
The same principle applies to anaerobic digesters. We are exploring how digestate—the residual material produced after anaerobic digestion—can be further biologically processed and converted into a higher-value organic fertilizer rather than becoming another material that must be managed or disposed of.
Across the country, enormous quantities of manure and other agricultural organic wastes are produced every year. Manure lagoons, crop residues, and other organic waste streams represent both a management challenge and an underutilized resource.
Our goal is to scale the biological processing of these materials and turn waste into a productive agricultural resource. By harnessing naturally occurring microbial processes, we can reduce waste volumes, recover nutrients, improve soil biology, and create useful organic amendments while reducing dependence on resource-intensive manufactured fertilizers.
The EnBiomatic was first designed to address the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of septic tanks and cesspools on Long Island, and further 100,000,000 nationally. For over a decade, we have been searching for a method for wastewater treatment at the home that was effective, cost effective, and which could be deployed rapidly.
How will we on Long Island address the 380,000 septic systems that would be just too expensive to replace with sewering? The current plan is to replace the inadequate and failing systems with units that cost $30,000 a unit plus maintenance, or over $11 billion dollars.
The Enbiomatic, as an add-on to an existing system, would cost a fraction of this, and 3-4 per day could be installed by any plumber.
It is no larger than a coffee grinder. It meters a daily dose of naturally occurring bacilli into the pipe leading to your septic system, with the microbes supporting the biological processing of accumulated organic material, turning your wastewater collection tank into a digestion chamber.
It installs on-site easily, with no excavation, no permits, and it’s beneficial to the environment. We are looking for opportunities to implement a large-scale deployment around a pond or lake or river in order to measure how this can improve groundwater and soil health as a public demonstration.
We are in the process of seeking local approval for the EnBiomatic for the home. As an individual homeowner, you can opt to have it installed in your home as an early adopter. Turn your holding tank into a digestion chamber with our microbes!
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The Bacillus supports the biological processing of accumulated organic material, reducing the sludge that builds up in your tank over time.
Supports the biological processing of accumulated organic material and reduces the sludge that collects in your septic system over time.
Continuous biological support that works with the water body, not against it.
Around-the-clock operation without seasonal labor.
No excavation, no permits, no infrastructure modification.
Results you can document, not just claim.
Supports the biological processing of accumulated organic material, reducing the sludge that collects in the water body over time.
Continuous biological support that works with the water body.
Around-the-clock operation without seasonal labor.
No excavation, no permits, no infrastructure modification. No excavation, no permits, no infrastructure modification.
Results you can document, not just claim.
Supports the biological processing of accumulated organic material, reducing the sludge that collects in the water body over time.
In ponds and treatment lagoons, the same biological supplementation approach has supported measurable reductions in accumulated organic sediment over time, including a documented sludge volume decrease of roughly 685 m³ and 102 m³ across two lagoon cells at one monitored site. Laboratory testing conducted during monitoring found no measurable acute or chronic toxicity to aquatic test species.
In an active swine facility manure management system, integration of the EBS-Di supported reductions in total solids and measurable changes in manure composition, illustrating how the same biological process management approach extends to agricultural manure and organic waste handling.
The EnBiomatic is the facultative microbial supplementation platform behind every application above: naturally occurring, spore-forming Bacillus that function in association with existing microbial communities already present in a system, supporting the biological processing and decomposition of accumulated organic material rather than acting through toxicity, inhibition, or control of any organism.
These results are drawn from our Survey of Case Studies, covering monitored deployments across municipal and industrial wastewater systems, ponds and lagoons, and agricultural manure management. Download the full report for site details, monitoring methodology, and complete data sets.
EnBiorganic is built to be delivered as a managed service for the water bodies on your property: the unit, the dosing, and the water-quality documentation, handled on a recurring basis so your team does not have to. This is the model that makes continuous biological support practical to run.
