Comparative study on bioremediation of oil contamination soils in Libya at Al-Sharara Oil field

Abstract

This paper summarizes the research findings of an extensive experiment conducted on the bioremediation of crude oil that collected from Al-Sharara field which is located in Murzuq Basin in the southern of Libya. This Field is operated by Spanish Repsol through joint venture 50% with Akakus Oil operations  which is producing around 150,000 oil barrel per day.  The degree of oil biodegradation was investigated by using gas chromatography analysis. This study focused on the process of reducing soil microcosm process, during the biological restore of oil contaminated soil under three different conditions. Biodegradation activity of hydrocarbons with nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorous containing compounds) and adding poison (mercuric acetate) were studied through the determination of optimal conditions which improve bioremediation process. Indeed, after four weeks, about 98% removal rate of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) in soil treated by microcosm’s technique were observed. The results indicated that the total area of chromatographic peaks represented the concentration of total hydrocarbons in different conditions. The results confirmed that the soil samples consisted mainly of n-alkanes C11 through C31. The ratio of these hydrocarbons were approximately lower than 80%, with intermediate branched chain hydrocarbon, along with cycloalkanes, aromatic compounds and other petroleum-based compounds within the experimental samples. The degradation of the treated samples with nitrogen and phosphorous indicated the TPH concentration decreased rapidly at the end of treatment, it is relatively high when compared to the control (untreated) and the poison system.