Academic literature on the topic 'Crude oil hydrocarbons Chemistry, Organic Water Pollution'

Soil degradation is one of the most topical environmental threats. A number of processes causing soil degradation, specifically erosion, compaction, salinization, pollution, and loss of both organic matter and soil biodiversity, are also strictly connected to agricultural activity and its intensification. The development and adoption of sustainable agronomic practices able to preserve and enhance the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils and improve agroecosystem functions is a challenge for both scientists and farmers. This Special Issue collects 12 original contributions addressing the state of the art of sustainable agriculture and soil conservation. The papers cover a wide range of topics, including organic agriculture, soil amendment and soil organic carbon (SOC) management, the impact of SOC on soil water repellency, the effects of soil tillage on the quantity of SOC associated with several fractions of soil particles and depth, and SOC prediction, using visible and near-infrared spectra and multivariate modeling. Moreover, the effects of some soil contaminants (e.g., crude oil, tungsten, copper, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) are discussed or reviewed in light of the recent literature. The collection of the manuscripts presented in this Special Issue provides a relevant knowledge contribution for improving our understanding on sustainable agriculture and soil conservation, thus stimulating new views on this main topic.

AbstractMicrobiomes of freshwater basins intended for human use remain poorly studied, with very little known about the microbial response to in situ oil spills. Lake Pertusillo is an artificial freshwater reservoir in Basilicata, Italy, and serves as the primary source of drinking water for more than one and a half million people in the region. Notably, it is located in close proximity to one of the largest oil extraction plants in Europe. The lake suffered a major oil spill in 2017, where approximately 400 tons of crude oil spilled into the lake; importantly, the pollution event provided a rare opportunity to study how the lacustrine microbiome responds to petroleum hydrocarbon contamination. Water samples were collected from Lake Pertusillo 10 months prior to and 3 months after the accident. The presence of hydrocarbons was verified and the taxonomic and functional aspects of the lake microbiome were assessed. The analysis revealed specialized successional patterns of lake microbial communities that were potentially capable of degrading complex, recalcitrant hydrocarbons, including aromatic, chloroaromatic, nitroaromatic, and sulfur containing aromatic hydrocarbons. Our findings indicated that changes in the freshwater microbial community were associated with the oil pollution event, where microbial patterns identified in the lacustrine microbiome 3 months after the oil spill were representative of its hydrocarbonoclastic potential and may serve as effective proxies for lacustrine oil pollution.

The response of the organism to the pollutant impact is influenced by a variety of abiotic and biotic environmental factors that may have a synergistic or antagonistic effect on the biodegradation, accumulation, distribution and elimination of the xenobiotics. It is known that lipophilic organic contaminants including oil hydrocarbons can be accumulated in lipid-rich tissues of marine animals, thus causing changes in biosynthesis and transport of phospholipids and triacylglycerols, as well as in the physical state of biological membranes. The cooperative effect of crude oil and low salinity on digestive gland lipid composition of the White Sea blue mussels Mytilus edulis L. was studied in aquarium experiment. Low salinity (15‰) impact reflects on the lipid composition indicating high energy costs directed to acclimation of the mussels to new environmental conditions. However, the response of the lipid composition on the crude oil effect is almost not dependent on the ambient salinity, and is mainly determined by exposure duration to crude oil and its dose in aquarium water. On the third experimental day a significant increase in the cholesterol/phospholipids ratio and the subsequent its recovery to initial level possibly indicate the development of the protective compensatory mechanisms to provide low permeability of cell membranes in digestive glands under crude oil pollution. It was observed that the leading factor contributing the lipid composition modifications in blue mussel digestive glands is crude oil effect, mainly in its higher concentrations.

The presence of hydrocarbons in groundwater represents a serious risk of disease. This study tests the timing, concentration and amount of BTEX oil components during the oil vertical movement though small-scale lysimeters containing undisturbed soils of different textures and by simulating the fate of oil spills under continuous water application. Three soil types were studied: a sandy-textured, highly permeable Eutric Arenosol, AR-eu, a loamy/sandy-loamy textured Haplic Chernozem, CH-ha, and a loamy-clayey/clayey textured, swell-shrink, Luvic-Chernic Phaeozem, PH-ch-lv. Crude oil was applied as a batch application using an equivalent of 5 g oil /100 g of dry soil for a 0.02 m height in each lysimeter of the three soils studied. After oil-penetration into the soil, tap water was applied on a daily basis above the lysimeters according to infiltration rate. The breakthrough curves of the BTEX compounds show that the highest mobility in the investigated sandy AR-eu soils and loamy CH-ha soils was found for benzene followed by toluene. The other hydrocarbons only showed a limited mobility. There was no leachate from the swell-shrink PH-ch-lv soil. Soil texture and permeability thus play an important role in the movement of BTEX compounds toward the groundwater. After applying an amount of water of 200% from the total soil porosity, or an equivalent of 800-850 mm of precipitation, the leaching process did not end and there still is a leaching potential remained for these hydrocarbons. The highest amount leached per mm of effluent was also for benzene followed by toluene. There were highly significant, direct correlations between the amounts of the hydrocarbons leached and the cumulative effluent volume. The swell-shrink soils are still an effective barrier to hydrocarbons` movement toward groundwater. The BTEX aromatic hydrocarbons leached from the soils, if reach the groundwater, represent sources of pollution with severe risks for human health.

The contamination of soil and water with petroleum and its products occurs due to accidental spills during exploitation, transport, processing, storing and use. In order to control the environmental risks caused by petroleum products a variety of techniques based on physical, chemical and biological methods have been used. Biological methods are considered to have a comparative advantage as cost effective and environmentally friendly technologies. Bioremediation, defined as the use of biological systems to destroy and reduce the concentrations of hazardous waste from contaminated sites, is an evolving technology for the removal and degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons as well as industrial solvents, phenols and pesticides. Microorganisms are the main bioremediation agents due to their diverse metabolic capacities. In order to enhance the rate of pollutant degradation the technology optimizes the conditions for the growth of microorganisms present in soil by aeration, nutrient addition and, if necessary, by adding separately prepared microorganisms cultures. The other factors that influence the efficiency of process are temperature, humidity, presence of surfactants, soil pH, mineral composition, content of organic substance of soil as well as type and concentration of contaminant. This paper presents a review of our ex situ bioremediation procedures successfully implemented on the industrial level. This technology was used for treatment of soils contaminated by crude oil and its derivatives originated from refinery as well as soils polluted with oil fuel and transformer oil.

The Mississippian limestone is a prolific hydrocarbon play in the northern region of Oklahoma and the southern part of Kansas. The Mississippian reservoirs feature variations in produced fluid chemistry usually explained by different possible source rocks. Such chemical variations are regularly obtained from bulk, molecular, and isotopic characteristics. In this study, we present a new geochemical investigation of gasoline range hydrocarbons, biomarkers, phenols, and diamondoids in crude oils produced from Mississippian carbonate and Woodford Shale formations. A set of oil samples was examined for composition using high-performance gas-chromatography and mass-spectrometry techniques. The result shows a distinct geochemical fingerprint reflected in biomarkers such as the abundance of extended tricyclic terpanes, together with heptane star diagrams, and diamantane isomeric distributions. Such compounds are indicative of the organic matter sources and stages of thermal maturity. Phenolic compounds varied dramatically based on geographic location, with some oil samples being depleted of phenols, while others are intact. Based on crude oil compositions, two possible source rocks were identified including the Woodford Shale and Mississippian mudrocks, with a variable degree of mixing reported. Variations in phenol concentrations reflect reservoir fluid dynamic and water interactions, in which oils with intact phenols are least affected by water-washing conversely and crude oils depleted in phenols attributed to reservoir water-washing. These geochemical parameters shed light into petroleum migration within Devonian-Mississippian petroleum systems and mitigate geological risk in exploring and developing petroleum reservoirs.

We characterized some of the physical, chemical, and microbiological properties of soils that have become severely water-repellent and disaggregated several years or decades following oil contamination. A growing number of patches (usually <2 ha) of disaggregated water-repellent soils have recently been discovered throughout the province of Alberta at 20 to 50-yr-old crude oil spill sites. The disaggregated water-repellent soil is usually confined to a dry and powdery surface layer 10 to 15 cm deep, which no longer smells, feels, or looks like it contains any oil. These soils appear to have permanently lost the ability to support plant growth and recover through natural processes. We analyzed samples of disaggregated water-repellent and adjacent normal soils from three old crude oil spill sites to provide a background set of information about these poorly known soils and assist in the development of hypotheses concerning the development and persistence of soil water repellency and structural degradation. Compared with normal adjacent soils, disaggregated nonwettable soils are characterized by: (1) a strong resistance to wetting, as determined by the molarity of ethanol droplet (MED) test; (2) a smaller population of viable and culturable microorganisms, which contains at least some representatives from nonspore-forming bacterial genera; (3) a high content of mineral N and total C, a comparable pH and ratio of exchangeable cations, but a lower cation exchange capacity; (4) a slightly lower clay content, as determined by the Bouyoucos hydrometer method; (5) a comparable water desorption behaviour following forced saturation with water; (6) dry aggregates of a smaller mean weight diameter (MWD), as determined by dry sieving and scanning electron miscroscopic (SEM) analyses; (7) slightly less pronounced thermal reactions when heated up to 525 °C, as determined by differential thermal analyses (DTA); and (8) a reduced ability to support plant growth. From these observations, we infer that disaggregated water-repellent soils found at old crude oil spill sites do not differ appreciably from normal adjacent soils in terms of their inorganic chemistry. Nonwettable and adjacent wettable soils differ mostly in terms of some physical and biological characteristics, which probably stem from differences in the quality of the organic matter they contain. Key words: Crude oil spills, petroleum hydrocarbons, soil water repellency, soil disaggregation, soil hydrophobicity

The gas chromatograms of crude oil hydrocarbons reveal both resolved and unresolved components. The unresolved feature is commonly referred to as the unresolved complex mixture (UCM). UCMs are thought to result from the co-elution of complex mixtures of hydrocarbons with similar chemical properties and become more obvious as resolved components are removed by processes such as weathering and refining. Consequently UCMs are a prominent feature in oil-polluted sediments, biodegraded crudes and refineiT products. The characterisation of both aliphatic and aromatic unresolved complex mixtures (UCMs) of hydrocarbons, as well as their possible effects on the environment, is described. An aliphatic hydrocarbon UCM isolated from the base oil of Silkolene 150 lubricating oil was characterised by a combination of micro vacuum-distillation and oxidative degradation. Vacuum-distillation produced six distillate cuts and a residue which were all highly unresolved by GC (ca. 951/6). The average molecular weight of each cut was determined by probe CIMS (310 - 440 Daltons), and varied by -20 Daltons. Cr03 oxidation of each fraction yielded similar distributions of n-monocarboxylic acids, ketones and lactones as well as C02 (ca. 6%). The resolved products of oxidation suggest that the aliphatic UCM is a rather homogeneous mixture of highly branched alkanes. However a significant amount of the products remain unresolved (UCMox.; ca. 70-95%). A retro -structural analysis approach, using an aromatic UCM oxidant (Ru04), combined with a mass balance approach, was used to characterise aromatic UCMs. Following reproducibility studies and the analysis of authentic aromatic compounds, the method was applied to the characterisation of unresolved aromatic refinery oil fractions and a suite of aromatic UCM distillate fractions. Selected refinery oils were separated into mono-, di-, tri- and tetraaromatics by BPLC and shown to be mainly unresolved by GC (ca. 80%). Ru04 oxidation of these fractions yielded DCM soluble products (24 - 74%), water soluble products (0 - 10%) and C02 (12 -78%). The principal resolved products in each oxidation were monocarboxylic acids and dicarboxylic acids which were used to reconstruct precursor compounds. Vacuum-distillation of Tia Juana Pesado crude (Venezuela) gave six cuts and a residue which were analysed by GC, 1H NMP, UV and probe CIMS to obtain molecular weight (171 - 301 Daltons) and broad structural information whilst Ru04 oxidation was used to obtain molecular information via the retro -structural analysis approach. This showed that the aromatic UCM was in fact highly aliphatic and contained alkyl and cycloalkyl tetralins. A significant advancement in the quantitative characterisation of UCMOx. and subsequently the characterisation of aromatic UCMs was made. Ion cyclotron resonance spectrometry (ICR) was used to characterise the Ru04 oxidation products of selected refinery fractions. Analysis of the oxidation products of a monoaromatic refinery fraction indicated the presence of monocarboxylic acids (Cl - C21; 58%) and alicyclic carboxylic acids (C7 - C19; 16%), a hydrogenated monoaromatic sample contained monocarboxylic acids (Cl - C20; 30%), dicarboxylic acids (C2 - C11,7%) and alicyclic carboxylic acids (C7 - C18; 11%) , whilst a diaromatic fraction contained monocarboxylic acids (C10 - C19; 7%), alkyl phthalic acids (C8 - C17', 17%) and cycloalkyl phthalic acids (C11 - C15; 3%). Retro -structural analysis suggests that the nonhydrotreated monoaromatic UCM is mainly comprised of alicyclic and alkyl substituted benzenes, the monoaromatic UCM isolated from the hydrotreated oil of alky'l and cycloalkyl substituted tetralins and the diaromatic fraction of alkyl and cycloalkyl naphthalenes. This was supported by, FIMS analysis of the fractions prior to oxidation. As an investigation of the environmental toxicity of UCMs, the effect of a saturated aliphatic UCM, and its chemical oxidation products, on the feeding rate of mussels (Mytilus edulis), was investigated. The UCM had little effect, whilst oxidation resulted in an increase in toxicity. The non-toxic nature of the hydrocarbons was attributed to their low aqueous solubility, whilst oxidation resulted in the formation of products NNith a greater solubility, which were sufficiently hydrophobic to be narcotic toxicants. Parts of this work have been published [Thomas et al., (1993) Organic Geochemistry, Falch Hurtigtrykk, Non%-ay(A bstract), 717-719; Thomas et al., (1995) [Vater Research. 29,371-382]. iv

Abstract Crude oil pollution is a serious threat to both humans and agricultural trends in all ramifications. The effects include suffocation of humans, plants and other useful organisms in the polluted area. The resultant effect is that it is cost effective and provides an aerated soil environment for enough nutrient distribution. This research designed an effective reagent that has ability to destroy the crude oil molecules in the soil and reviewed highlights for crude oil molecule conversion into soil nutrient. The formulation is based on the principle of complete destruction or combustion of hydrocarbons (crude oil) molecules. The Reagent is called hydrocarbons polluted area sludge solution. The advantage is that the polluted soil is remediated and it is restored after the application of the reagent, with increase in its original fertility. The reagent was applied on a soil polluted by crude oil around Warri Refinery and the result showed a complete destruction of the sludge molecules. It converted the sludge molecules into organic salt, hydride and water molecules. It was equally used on samples sludge from Ogoni polluted area and the result was successful. The sludge was completely destroyed and converted into organic salts and acids. Soil and water samples around the polluted area analysis result revealed that contaminated soil and water were restored. It has been confirmed that the reagent has the ability to destroy sludge molecules in soil, effectively clean and restore the soil with added fertility.