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.
