Prepared Bed Land Treatment of Soils Containing Diesel and Crude Oil Hydrocarbons

Abstract

An ex situ, field-scale, prepared bed land treatment unit (LTU) was used to bio-remediate soils containing petroleum hydrocarbons. Two soils were treated in side-by-side units to compare performance: (1) a clayey silt containing crude oil hydrocarbons from releases 30 to 40 years ago and (2) a silty sand containing diesel fuel hydrocarbons from a leak about three years prior to the bioremediation. The effectiveness of the bioremediation in the LTU was evaluated over a period of 18 months. The results indicated that: (1) prepared bed bioremediation reduced the hydrocarbon concentration, mobility, and relative toxicity in the soil with the diesel fuel, and (2) chemical bioavailability appeared to limit bioremediation of the soil containing the crude oil hydrocarbons. Although the soils containing the crude oil hydrocarbons contained an average of 10,000 mg TPH/kg dry soil, these soils had limited hydrocarbon availability, nontoxic conditions, and low potential for chemical migration. For the soils containin...