The focus of this thesis is the bioremediation of oil impacted sites. Chapter 3 considered “Oil Lakes” in Kuwait, a consequence of the First Gulf War, which pose a considerable human and environmental hazard. The data revealed that across even a small “Oil Lake”, the hydrocarbon concentration varied significantly and that hydrocarbon concentration was the most important descriptor for determining the rate of remediation. Effective and sustainable bioremediation strategy must be led by the focused use of underpinning empirical data and its application in a predictive capacity. Chapter 4 considered a similar integrated approach to assess the bioremediation potential of historically contaminated soils from Kuwait. The analyses reveal that an optimised combination of chemical and biological characterisation were necessary to monitor processes involved in remediation of heavily weathered oil contaminated soils. A predictive equation derived from empirical chemical and biological data could enhance certainty in the adoption of remedial strategies. Chapter 5 focussed on the toxicity of fractionated crude oils undergoing remediation. Chapter 6 compared a full scale trial of two remediation strategies done on the same site contaminated with bunker-fuel. This trial reveals the benefit of developing risk and hazard-based approaches in defining endpoint bioremediation of heavy hydrocarbons when engineered biopile or window are proposed as treatment option. Bioremediation, to be effectively applied requires a considerably intense monitoring regime. For freshly contaminated soils, there is sound justification for applying a predictive capacity but as the samples age, this becomes less certain. New technologies are evolving which when properly applied and interpreted in the correct context may enhance our ability to sustainably manage hydrocarbon bioremediation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:540503 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Al-Awadi, Mohammed A. R. |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=166619 |
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