PREDICTING BIOTREATABILITY END-POINTS FOR CRUDE OIL IN SOIL

摘要

Laboratory scale biotreatability and/or field pilot studies have generally been used to determine whether ex situ bioremediation (composting or land treatment) can achieve total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) or oil and grease (O&G) cleanup goals for a given site soil. In this study, data from bioremediation studies (laboratory to full scale) involving weathered crude oil contaminated soil were used to develop and validate predictive models. Chemical data characterizing the starting hydrocarbon composition were used to predict bioremediation end-points. Two equations were found to adequately describe biodegradation end-points for crude oil-impacted soil (one based on O&G content and the second based on TPH quantified by gas chromatography). The O&G predictive equation was validated using bioremediation results from aged hydrocarbon spill areas. The degree of correlation between equation-predicted and observed biodegradation end-points for the equation suggests that they are suitable for making screening-level decisions about the bioremediation potential of a particular site soil, thereby eliminating the need for costly treatability and pilot studies in some cases.