title: Fate and transport of petroleum hydrocarbons in engineered biopiles in polar regions.
abstract: A dynamic multi-media model that includes temperature-dependency for partitioning and degradation was developed to predict the behaviour of petroleum hydrocarbons during biopiling at low temperature. The activation energy (Ea) for degradation was derived by fitting the Arrhenius equation to hydrocarbon concentrations from temperature-controlled soil mesocosms contaminated with crude oil and diesel. The model was then applied to field-scale biopiles containing soil contaminated with diesel and kerosene at Casey Station, Antarctica. Temporal changes of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) concentrations were very well described and predictions for individual hydrocarbon fractions were generally acceptable (disparity between measured and predicted concentrations was less than a factor two for most fractions). Biodegradation was predicted to be the dominant loss mechanism for all but the lightest aliphatic fractions, for which volatilisation was most important. Summertime losses were significant, resulting in TPH concentrations which were about 25% of initial concentrations just 1 year after the start of treatment. This contrasts with the slow rates often reported for hydrocarbons in situ and suggests that relatively simple remediation techniques can be effective even in Antarctica.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Whelan
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science and Technology, School of Applied Sciences, Cranfield University, College Road, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK. Electronic address: f.coulon@cranfield.ac.uk.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Coulon
authors.affiliation: Risk and Remediation, Terrestrial and Nearshore Ecosystems, Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania 7050, Australia.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hince
authors.affiliation: CSIRO, Land and Water, Private Bag No. 5, Wembley, Western Australia 6913, Australia.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rayner
authors.affiliation: Risk and Remediation, Terrestrial and Nearshore Ecosystems, Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania 7050, Australia.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McWatters
authors.affiliation: Risk and Remediation, Terrestrial and Nearshore Ecosystems, Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania 7050, Australia.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Spedding
authors.affiliation: Risk and Remediation, Terrestrial and Nearshore Ecosystems, Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania 7050, Australia.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Snape
mesh_terms: D000864:Antarctic Regions; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D003081:Cold Climate; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000378:metabolism*; D010578:Petroleum / Q000378:metabolism*; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D006838:Hydrocarbons; D010578:Petroleum; D012989:Soil Pollutants
keywords: Antarctic soils; Biopile; Fugacity model; Hydrocarbon contamination