EBR is a high-efficiency denitrification, metals, and inorganics removal technology that provides electrons directly to the EBR bioreactor as a substitute for using excess electron donors and nutrients.
[1][2][3] It was patented[4] by INOTEC, a bioremediation company based in Salt Lake City, UT.
[5] The EBR technology is based on the principle that microbes mediate the removal of metal and inorganic contaminants through electron transfer (redox processes).
They require excess nutrients/chemicals to compensate for inefficient and variable electron availability needed to adjust reactor ORP chemistry, compensate for system sensitivity (fluctuation), and to achieve more consistent constituent removal.
[citation needed] The EBR systems have been successfully demonstrated in the mining and power generation sectors to remove nitrate, nitrite, selenium, cadmium, molybdenum, nickel, tin, uranium, zinc, antimony, copper, lead, silver, vanadium, and mercury.