A review on environmental contamination of petroleum hydrocarbons, its effects and remediation approaches

Abstract

Oil leakage into soil is a major environmental concern, affecting its physical, chemical, biological, and geotechnical properties, which threatens soil fertility. Remediating contaminated sites helps mitigate risks to human health, the environment, and the economy, while also enabling land reuse for development or agriculture. Petroleum spills generally occur during production, processing, transportation, and storage. This review discusses the impact of hydrocarbon contamination on soil and its surrounding environment and examines various remediation techniques, including physical–chemical methods (soil excavation, soil washing, soil vapor extraction, thermal treatment, and chemical oxidation), biological methods (bioremediation and phytoremediation), nanotechnology-based approaches, and integrated methods. The effectiveness, limitations, and applicability of these techniques are critically analyzed, providing a comprehensive framework for managing soil contamination by petroleum hydrocarbons.