Bio-Remediation of Oil contaminated
soil at ONGC, Mehsana Asset- As a
Clean up Project. --- A Case Study
By: [Link], Chief Chemist -HSE
Sources of Oil Contamination
Oil spillage due to line leakage (Oil flow lines/effluent
lines).
Sludge generation due to adding of chemicals in
effluent water at ETPs (Effluent Treatment Plants).
Tank bottom sludge in oil storage tanks
Oily waste due to periodically cleaning of Heater
Treaters
Environmental Threats of Oil
Contamination
Environmental Hazards
Oil contaminated Soil looses its Fertility
Effect on eco system and ecological habitat
Physical and chemical alteration of natural habitats
such as when oil is incorporated into sediments
Lethal or sub-lethal toxic effects on the marine life
Objective of the Project
•Environment Protection
•Social Responsibility
•Stringent Environment Norms
•In all- adhere to QHSE (Quality, Health, Safety and
Environment) Policy based on ISO-14001, ISO- 9001
& OHSAS-18001 management system.
Conventional methods for remediation of
Oil Contamination
Land filling / Incineration / Air Spurging
Natural Remediation (like evaporation of VOCs, auto
oxidation, and photo oxidation, etc.)
Surfactants
Chemical dissociation, dumping in injection wells,
etc.
Land farming
What is Bioremediation ?
• Bioremediation is a process that uses naturally
occurring microorganisms for remediation of
harmful substances to nontoxic compounds.
• End product of bioremediation is CO2, water & cell
biomass which can be used as a good fertilizer,
hence Environment Friendly.
Comparison with other methods
Parameters Techniques for disposal
Conventional methods Bioremediation
technique
Efficiency Containment of toxic wastes Complete removal of toxic
to some extent, complete waste is possible.
removal is not possible.
Applicability Application is limited. In-situ Application is universal (can often
application is not possible, subject treat water, soil, sludge etc). In-
to availability of land and situ application is possible and
machinery. In some cases the land requirement is minimal. The
process is not easy to handle. process is easy to handle.
Liability
Present Eliminated
Land requirement Separate land is required for Treatment can be done in-
the treatment. situ, hence separate land
requirement is not there.
Cont..
Parameters Techniques for disposal
Conventional Bioremediation
methods technique
Environment Not environment friendly. Quite environment
Directly or indirectly friendly method. The end
friendliness
generates secondary product is CO2, water and
pollutant. dead biomass that helps
to regain the fertility of
the contaminated soil.
Water There is always a chance No chance of water
of water pollution. pollution.
Pollution
Air pollution There is always a chance No chance of air
of air pollution. pollution.
Cost High Minimal
Cont..
Environmental Cost of remediation
Method
impact (Rs/ton contaminated soil)
Incineration Air pollution 10000 approx
Water/ Land
Surfactants -
pollution
Environment friendly
Bioremediation 2500
(negligible pollution)
Oilzapper : Microbial consortium developed by TERI
for bioremediation of hydrocarbon contamination
Mechanism of Action
Methodology Adopted:
•Joint measurement of the site having oil soaked soil.
•Site preparation through leveling, removal of stones,
debris and other non biodegradable .
•Zero day sampling for measurement of contaminants
(Initial Petroleum Hydrocarbons).
•Application of Oil zapper, spreading of nutrients, tilling of
site with tractor.
•Tilling of bioremediation site on regular intervals with
tractor.
•Spraying of water on oil contaminated soil for
maintaining the required moisture content.
•Further application of Oil zapper to maintain its population
level at 107 bacterial cells/gram.
•Sampling from randomly selected points on regular
intervals for measuring bioremediation efficiency.
Application of Oil zapper
Composition of oil contaminated soil
undertaken for bioremediation
Constituents of oil Values at different small pits (%)
contaminated soil
Pit # 1 Pit # 2 Pit # 3 Pit # 4 Pit # 5 Pit # 6 Pit # 7
Steam extractable total Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil
petroleum
hydrocarbon
(TPH)
Solvent extractable 29.44 32.81 34.22 27.98 36.11 28.34 39.21
TPH
Water content 23.79 26.43 22.87 25.56 21.77 29.65 23.84
Residues i.e. other 46.77 40.76 42.91 46.46 42.12 42.01 36.95
organics /
sediment / in
organics
Cont..
TOTAL PETROLEUM HYDROCARBON (TPH)
Constituents
of TPH
Alkane 51 49 51 48 47 46 50
fraction
31 31 30 32 32 33 31
Aromatic
fraction
NSO 3 4 4 3 3 4 3
fraction
Asphaltane 15 16 15 17 18 17 16
& resin
fraction
TPH content and percent biodegradation of
the oil contaminated soil
%
biodegradation
Particulars % TPH
Before After
bioremediation bioremediation
Small Pit # 1 29.44 0.94 96.81
Small Pit # 2 32.81 0.98 97.01
Small Pit # 3 34.22 1 97.08
Small Pit # 4 27.98 0.95 96.6
Small Pit # 5 36.11 0.97 97.31
Small Pit # 6 28.34 0.93 96.72
Small Pit # 7 39.21 1.04 97.35
Cont..
Total petroleum hydrocarbon content before
and after
% T P H in o il c o n ta m in a te d s o il --->
45.00
39.21
40.00
36.11
34.22
35.00 32.81
29.44
30.00 27.98 28.34
25.00
20.00
15.00
10.00
5.00
0.94 0.98 1.00 0.95 0.97 0.93 1.04
0.00
Pit # 1 Pit # 2 Pit # 3 Pit # 4 Pit # 5 Pit # 6 Pit # 7
Before After
Cultivation of fish in NK Old GGS Pond:
• After seeing the results of the bioremediated soil
at NK Old GGS and the quality of water
accumulated in the bioremediation site, Fish
culture had commenced in Association with
Fisheries department, Government of Gujarat as
per the directive of CMD, ONGC to ensure
Biosafety after bioremediation process and the
growth of fish is a testimony to the process.
Fisheries, 2000 Nos. of Seeds (Katla + Rohu +
Mrigal) were collected from Govt. Fisheries,
Prantij, Himatnagar and released at the pond on
27.10.2008.
Pic 4:Collecting Seeds Prantij
Growth after six month
Conclusion
• Bio-Remediation process is found to be best technique
to treat the oil contaminated soil in oil industries as a
clean up operation in environment friendly manner &
thus protect the environment.
• This technique is used extensively in ONGC and other
down stream industries i.e. IOCL, HPCL, BPCL etc. and
other part of globe. In ONGC Mehsana almost 75000
tones of oil soaked soil has been treated so far and still
process is going on.
