Bioremediation of Petroleum Hydrocarbons: Advances in Contact Mixing

摘要

To locate a successful business, the 3 keys to success are location, location, location. The 3 keys to conducting a successful in situ remediation project are contact, contact, and contact. There are both monetary and process benefits with respect to conducting in situ remediation projects as opposed to dig and haul. If petroleum contaminated soil and sludge particles are reduced to the smallest possible diameter via aggressive homogeneous mixing of contaminant and additive package of choice, the performance and economic benefits will be maximized. Supplying uniform and high energy to the mixing process of contacting additives with contaminants is optimized and efficiency of the process is improved when the contaminant particle size is reduced to its smallest diameter, thus maximizing soil particle surface area and thus contaminant contact area. Bioremediation and chemical oxidation additive pathways are optimized and are more uniform when the additive and contaminant mixing process breaks soil and contaminant particles down to their smallest diameter and as a result the mixing process produces a homogeneous blend of additive and contaminant. There have been significant advances to equipment and technology to provide aggressive contact mixing. This paper summarizes those advancements and provides case study information to demonstrate the effectiveness of bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soils.