Case Study in Treating Contaminated Sediments From a Gulf Coast Oil Refinery
Type:
Presented during:
WODCON XIX: "Dredging makes the World a better place" - 2010, Beijing, China
Authors:
B. Jones, R. Wenning
Abstract: At on US Gulf Coast Oil Refinery, the closure of approximately 80 acres refinery waste displosal ponds containing contained sediments from the adjacent river mixed with organic deposits from the refinery utilized bioremediation to treat the organic constituents over a period of 5 yers followed by the installation of a soil cover system. The authors present this case study to demonstrate the treatment technology (Bioremediation and Solidification) and how it can be used to treat organic contaminated sediments from lakes and river systems throughout the Far East region once sediments are dredged from the river and stored onshore. This paper presents only one of the treatment technologies used to successfully to treat the 250.000 cubic yards of contaminated materials. The bioremediation process utilized a combination of box studies followed by field demonstrations plots of measure degradation rates for the proposed tilling rates. The paper presents lessons learned and the pitfalls thant can greatly lengthen the treatment cycle if not managed properly. Generally, the performance criteria for the bioremediation technology were to treat oil and grease concentrations to less that 10... PPM or 1%
Keywords: Bioremediation, Box Studies, Landfarming, Sediment Remediation, Remediation, Dredge, Stabilization/Solidification