Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Different Methods for the Remediation of Contaminated Groundwater by Determining the Petroleum Hydrocarbon Content

Abstract

The effectiveness of different remediation procedures for decreasing the amount of TPH (total petroleum hydrocarbons) in contaminated groundwater was evaluated at the site of a former refinery. The investigations were carried out on samples taken from several gravel based HSSF (horizontal subsurface flow) constructed wetlands (CW) which differed in relation to their filter material additives (no additive, charcoal, and ferric oxides additives) and examined the potential effect of these additives on the overall treatment efficiency. Samples of the following gravel based HSSF CW were investigated. No filter additive (system A), 0.1% activated carbon (system B), 0.5% iron(III) hydroxide (system C), and the reference (system D). Systems A–C were planted with common reed (Phragmites australis), whereas system D remained unplanted. In addition, the influence of seasonal conditions on the reduction of these hydrocarbons and the correlation between the amounts of TPH and BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene isomers), on the one hand, and methyl tert‐butyl ether, on the other, was investigated. The study was carried out by using a modified GC‐FID approach and multivariate methods. The investigations carried out in the first year of operation demonstrated that the effectiveness of the petroleum hydrocarbon removal was highest and reached a level of 93 ± 3.5% when HSSF filters with activated carbon as a filter additive were used. This remediation method allowed the petroleum hydrocarbon content to be reduced independently of seasonal conditions. The correlation between the reduction of TPH and BTEX was found to be R = 0.8824. Using this correlation coefficient, the time‐consuming determination of the BTEX content was no longer necessary.

Harvesting electricity from benzene and ammonium-contaminated groundwater using a microbial fuel cell with an aerated cathode

“…9,10 For example, the Leuna site (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) has been a center of chemical industry for about 100 years, leading to groundwater contaminated mainly by benzene and ammonium. 11 These pollutants have been reported to cause severe environmental and public health damage. 12 A variety of remediation technologies, such as constructed wetlands, 13,14 soil lter systems, 9 and aerated treatment ponds with biolm promoting mats, 15 have been used to treat groundwater contaminated with benzene and ammonium from the Leuna site.…”

Opportunities for groundwater microbial electro‐remediation

“…Another less common, but sometimes present, nitrogen compound is ammonium . It is a contaminant that can be found in subsurface waters that have received industrial or petrochemical pollution (Voyevoda et al ., ). In those spills where oxygen is at low concentrations, ammonium is not oxidized into nitrate at the surface neither during the percolation (Buss et al ., ).…”