Biosurfactant facilitated emulsification and electro-osmotic recovery of oil from petrochemical contaminated soil

Abstract

Petroleum industries are burdened with the problem of handling petroleum products, petroleum waste products and refinery byproducts such as large quantities of oil waste. Improper management of these products and their wastes present an environment hazard when they end up in the atmosphere, water and land due to their hazardous constituents. An evaluation to determine the possibility of enhancing the electrokinetic process by application of a biosurfactant producing strain for remediation of petroleum contaminated soil through oil recovery and hydrocarbon degradation was studied at a bench scale. A DC powered electrokinetic reactor consisting of electrode/electrolyte compartments and a medium chamber was used under voltage variations of 10 V and 30 V with an electrode spacing of 185 mm. Biosurfactant with its producing microbes and biosurfactant free cells were introduced in the soil chamber after which the reactor was left to run for 10 days under the electric field. The technology was able to achieve the highest oil recovery of 75.15 % from the soil in 96 hours at 30 V. The microorganisms were able to survive under the electric field there by leading to further reduction of the carbon content in the reactor.