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8750392 
Meetings & Symposia 
Bioremediation of oil contaminated soil at South Santhal CTF, Mehsana, India: A case study 
Mandal, AK; Sarma, PM; Dwivedi, M; Swaleh, A; Lal, B; Agnihotri, A; Hazra, US; Doraiah, A; Patidar, SS 
2007 
Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) 
2 
656-668 
English 
Description of the material: The petroleum industry effluents, oily sludge and oil spills cause a serious threat to the environment as their constituent compounds have toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic properties. With the stringent regulatory norms and environmental obligations, safe disposal of these hazardous wastes is a serious problem. Various conventional methods are available for disposal of the same, but all of them are having one or more disadvantages. Biological methods have been well reviewed and acknowledged for reclamation and remediation of environments contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons. The paper describes a field case study on the bioremediation of oil contaminated soil at an installation of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC), India. Application: A bacterial consortium was developed by assemble of four species of bacteria which could effectively biodegrade different fractions of total petroleum hydrocarbon. Using this bacterial consortium huge quantity of oily sludge and large area of land contaminated with oil spills can be treated for safe disposal. Results, Observations and Conclusions: In the present study, total 1500 tonnes of oil-contaminated soil was undertaken for treatment by bioremediation techniques at three sites of South Santhal central tank farm area (CTF), Mehsana Asset, ONGC, India. Within 135 days of treatment, the total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) of the oil contaminated soil was degraded by 90.98%, 92.08% and 91.47% at Site - I (Well no. 1), Site - II (Well no. 205) and Site - III (Well no. 206) respectively. Whereas at the control site, without treatment by bioremediation techniques, the degradation of TPH was negligible. Hence biodegradation technique has been proved to be an effective method for treatment of oil contamination. Significance of Subject Matter: This study has helped the ONGC authorities to identify an environment friendly method for disposal of oily waste. The bioremediation study of oil-contaminated soil by applying microbial consortium is an ongoing investigation and the results are highly encouraging. Copyright 2007, Society of Petroleum Engineers. 
Biodegradation; Bioremediation; Oily sludge; Total petroleum hydrocarbons