Abstract
Pipeline rupture, tank failures and various other production, storage and transportation accidents create hydrocarbon contaminated soils, occasionally on a large scale. Bioremediation is currently attracting a lot of attention as a remedial technique. This study is designed to test, on the laboratory scale, what type of fuel spills could be cleaned up by a cost-effective bioremediation approach based on a land treatment process.
A bioremediation treatment that consisted of pH adjustment of soil, fertilisation, and tilling was evaluated on the laboratory scale for its effectiveness in cleaning up a soil contaminated by jet fuel, diesel oil, or heavy fuel oil. Experimental variables included; no treatment, incubation temperature, bioremediation treatment, and poisoned evaporation controls. Hydrocarbon residues were determined by gas chromatography or, in the case of heavy fuel oil, by residual weight determination. Five-point depletion curves were obtained for the prescribed experimental variables. The medium distillates, jet fuel and diesel oil increased in persistence in the listed order but responded well to bioremediation treatment under test conditions. With bioremediation treatment, it is possible to reduce hydrocarbons to insignificant levels in contaminated soils within one growing season.