The practice of environmental remediation itself has evolved from the 1980s and continues to evolve today. There is an increased level of awareness of the applicability and limitations of various remediation technologies. In the last decade, there has been significant improvement of remediation technologies from the early containment techniques to today's very aggressive site closure techniques. Many new and innovative technologies have been introduced to develop faster and more cost effective solutions for the petroleum industries.

The sources of contamination from different areas of the petroleum industry will be discussed:

EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION

REFINING

TRANSPORTATION AND PIPELINES

DEPOTS AND TERMINALS

SERVICE STATIONS / USTS

The contamination from these areas of petroleum industry will be presented including: contaminated soil and groundwater impacts, crude petroleum sludge, brines and drilling soil and artificial drilling additives.

This paper will review the evolution of remediation technologies in the United States from the 1990s to the present time. The technologies that will be presented will include the following:

Soil.

Soil excavation, ex-situ and in-situ soil stabilization and solidification, soil capping, thermal treatment (on site and in-situ), soil washing, soil oxidation, bio-pile and bioremediation.

Groundwater.

Pump and treat, air sparging, soil vapor extraction (SVE), vacuum enhanced recovery, in-situ oxidation, thermal treatment and bioremediation.

Selected case studies utilizing several of these remediation technologies will be presented.

Keywords:
contaminant, spe 136529, washington, contamination, recovery, land reclamation, remediation technology, environmental protection agency, bioattenuation, society of petroleum engineers
Subjects:
Environment, Remediation and land reclamation
Copyright 2010, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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