Primary Author / Conference Presenter:
Krishna Vangala
Sr. Environment Engineer
Kuwait Oil Company
Ahmadi, Kuwait

Co-Authors:
Aisha Al-Barood, Khalaf Al-Jumah, Khalid Al-Rewaih, Kuwait Oil Company, Kuwait
Matthew Potts, Wood PLC, Kuwait

The Sustainable Environmental Economical Development (SEED) project was undertaken to explore the application of differing remediation technologies and their capabilities to deal with hydrocarbon contamination generated as result of legacy operations within the upstream oil and gas industry of Kuwait. The SEED project targeted contaminated features mainly non-operational pits which included Effluent pits, Sludge pits, Gatch pits and contaminated soil piles.
This research provides a comparison between the application of Bacterial consortia on two batches which have been treated using bioremediation. The review will compare the approach taken, the enhancements added, and the results achieved.
The first batch comprised of approximately 8,720m3 of fines sediment generated as a by-product from an alternate remediation technology and the starting concentration of TPH (Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons) is 62,313mg/kg. The second batch comprised of 1,700m3 of coarse sand excavated from an effluent pit. The starting TPH concentration was 55,267mg/kg. The remediation target fixed for both batches was 5,580mg/kg.
Although similar approach was taken to bioremediation with both batches such as subjecting them landfarming, additional of Bacteria and nutrients and the tilling (aeration) process was carried out, significant differences was seen in achievement of remediation target among the two batches and this paper highlights the reasons for such variation and mitigation one can undertake for successful bioremediation.