CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Crude Oil Pollution

Petroleum hydrocarbons are widespread in our environment as fuel and chemical Compounds. The uncontrolled release of petroleum hydrocarbons negatively impacts many of our soi1 and water resources. The contamination can result from leaking Underground Storage tanks (UST), petroleum refineries and bulk storage facilities, broken oil pipelines, spills of petroleum products in chemical plants and transportation processes (Sheman and Stroo, 1989). The risks of explosion and fire are also serious threats to the environment. The US. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reported that there were about 1.6 million of USTs and 37,000 hazardous tanks in 1992. Approximately 320.000 USTs are leaking, and 1,000tanks are confirmed as new release each week (Cole, 1994). Approximately 200,000 USTs are in use in Canada, it leads to a considerable amount of petroleum hydrocarbon leaks and contamination in soi1 and groundwater (Scheibenbogen et al., 1994). As reported by Gruiz and Kriston (1995) an amount of 6,000,000 tons petroleum waste enter the environment each year causing serious environmental problems.

Even if the problems associated with fuel storage and distribution are solved, contamination incidental to production and commercial usage would continue to threaten ground water supplies. Many manufacturing processes necessarily produce water and sledges that are contaminated with hydrocarbons. At a typical oil refinery facility, more than 23 different waste streams have been identified, several of which have been classified a hazardous waste (Sims, 1990). Since the contamination of soil and groundwater by uncontrolled releases of petroleum products has become a significant problem, a number of technologies have been tested to remediate the polluted sites.

1.2 Effect of The Crude Oil on the Soil

According to Cole (1994), in the US, about 16,000 sites are treated each year by the states and responsible parties treatment processes have incorporated physical, chemical, biological methods, or a combination of them.

Remedial action on a contaminated site can involve in situ or ex situ action. The remediation methods include excavation and landfill disposal or incineration. However, these methods are expensive and only transfer the contamination from one place to another.

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