Ejikeme Ugwoha Journal of Engineering Research and Application www.ijera.

com
ISSN : 2248-9622 Vol. 9,Issue 8 (Series -I) Aug 2019, pp 01-12

RESEARCH ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS

Modelling the Transport of Crude Oil in Sandy Soil

Ejikeme Ugwoha 1, Victor Emeka Amah 2, Precious Ehis Agharese-Adu3
1&2
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Port Harcourt, P.M.B. 5323, Nigeria
3
Centre for Occupational Health, Safety and Environment, University of Port Harcourt, P.M.B. 5323, Nigeria
Corresponding author: Ejikeme Ugwoha

ABSTRACT
The transport and retention of crude oil in sandy soil was studied. A full factorial experimental design with three
independent variables, namely soil depth, contaminant volume and rainfall intensity, was used. The soil was
artificially contaminated with varying crude oil volumes and rainfall simulation was performed in a mesocosm.
The results obtained showed variations in the transport and retention of crude oil with the independent variables.
The leached total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) concentrations decreased with increasing soil depth but
increased with increasing contaminant volume and rainfall intensity. Contrarily, the retained TPH
concentrations increased with increasing soil depth and contaminant volume but decreased with increasing
rainfall intensity. Transport and retention models were developed and used to fit the transport and retention of
crude oil in sandy soil after accidental release with correlation coefficient of 0.9407 and 0.9446 for the transport
and retention model, respectively.
Keywords: Modelling, Transport, Retention, Crude oil, Contaminant, Hydrocarbons, Soil, Unsaturated zone,
Response surface method, Contamination risk
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------
Date Of Submission: 25-07-2019 Date Of Acceptance: 06-08-2019
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------
viscosity, pour point, carbon residue, salt content
I. INTRODUCTION and sulphur content.
Crude oil has become one of the most Petroleum hydrocarbons have become of
important commodities and an exceptionally exceptional interest considering the effects on soil
attractive product in the world market today (Aroh and groundwater after contamination from spills or
et al., 2010). The Niger Delta regionis rich in accidental leaks associated with exploration,
petroleum resources which play an important role production and distribution of crude oil. These
in the nation economy by generating over 90% of releases may result in contaminated sites that pose
the nation’s revenue (Odjuvwuederhie et al., 2006). an unacceptable risk to human health, ecology,
Accordingly, the exploration and production of oil water resources and rendering the area
have concentrated in the Niger Delta region, with unproductive. The negative effects of petroleum
over 1000 oil wells and over 47,000 km of oil flow hydrocarbons to all aspect of life have prompted
lines (Ngobiri et al., 2007). The development of the quite several researches on the environmental fate
oil industry has become a threat to groundwater and transport of hydrocarbons (Verbruggen, 2004).
quality because of the pollution caused by Most cases of oil spill can be traced to oil
petroleum hydrocarbons from petroleum spills tankers involved in accidents, vandalism of
experienced during the use, transportation and pipelines used for distribution and oil storage
storage (Liu et al., 2007). facilities. Such accidents can be as a result of
Crude oil is a naturally occurring human mistakes, deliberate actions or natural
compound, composed of a mixture of hydrocarbon disaster such as earthquakes (Abii and Nwosu,
and non-hydrocarbon compounds (Speight, 2002). 2009). There has been a massive increase of oil
Hydrocarbons are molecules that contain only spill through acts of sabotage or pipeline vandalism
hydrogen and carbon, they exist as a diverse by unemployed youths in Nigeria in the past
mixture of linear, branched, cyclic and aromatic decades. The poor implementation of memorandum
compounds. Non-hydrocarbons are fractions known of understanding (MoU) between the oil companies
as resins and asphaltenes containing elements such and host communities, leaving the people
as nitrogen, sulphur and oxygen (Mullins, 2007). unemployed has been blamed for this drift.
Crude oil varies in their properties following the Uchegbu (1998) observed that oil
different geographical location they are found, pollution is a challenge experienced in the world
these properties includes density, specific gravity, that has no conclusive solution despite efforts to
American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity, safeguard or counter measure it and the separation

www.ijera.com DOI: 10.9790/9622- 0908010112 1|P age

Ejikeme Ugwoha Journal of Engineering Research and Application www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622 Vol. 9,Issue 8 (Series -I) Aug 2019, pp 01-12

of oil spill incidents from oil exploration and II. MATERIALS AND METHODS
exploitation is extremely difficult despite all control 2.1. Crude oil
measures put in place. Atlas and Bartha (1987) The crude oil used in this study was
reported that crude oil pollution is gradually obtained from Aminamkpono Offshore in Rivers
creating an imbalance in the biotic and abiotic State. The crude oil has the following properties:
regimes. Okafor (1985) recounted that whenever density (0.8 kg/m3), specific gravity (0.8014), API
there is incident of oil spill, it usually causes gravity (45.07), flash point (40-83oC) reidvapour
serious economic problem, contaminate drinking pressure (5 psi) and sulphur content (0.01-0.1%).
water and cause general discomfort of normal life. The crude oil sample was analyzed in the
For minimum reduction or elimination of these laboratory using standard methods to obtain the
effects, it is important that clean-up of these baseline total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH).
contaminants from the affected area be carried out
by applying the appropriate remediation techniques 2.2. Soil characterisation
(Ellis et al., 1990). Selection of the appropriate The soil used in this study was sandy soil
remediation techniques depends on understanding obtained from the Centre for Occupational Health,
the transport and retention of target contaminants in Safety and Environment. The soil sample (1000 kg)
the affected soil. was air dried and sieved using a 2 mm sieve to
The transport of crude oil in the obtain a uniform particle size and classification.
environment is essential for estimation and The soil has the following properties: particle size
determination of the risk human and ecological distribution (0.1 - 0.2 mm), particle density (2.286
receptors can be posed to (McMillen et al., 2000). g/cm3), bulk density (1.861 g/cm3) and porosity
The rate and extent of transport of crude oil will be (0.1859). The soil was analysed for TPH using
based on the properties of soil andcrude oil as well standard procedure.
as the volume of the spilled crude oil(API, 1972;
Brost and DeVaull, 2000; Keller and Simmons, 2.3. Response surface method (RSM)
2005).In the event of spill, crude oil can exist in the XLSAT software using RSM method of a
soil surface, dissolve in the groundwater or even full factorial design with 3 levels was used to
occupy pore spaces in the unsaturated zone. generate the number of observations/ experimental
Understanding the process of transport in soil-water runs required to develop transport and retention
environment gives better insight to predict models. Theindependent variables were soil height
contamination risk extent. Therefore, this work ranging from 10 cm to 50 cm, contaminant
aims to develop models using response surface concentration ranging from 1 mg/l to 5 mg/l and
method to describe the transport and retention of rainfall intensity ranging from 5 mm/hr to 10
petroleum hydrocarbons in the unsaturated zone mm/hr. The dependent variables were leached TPH
following the contamination of sandy soil with and retained TPH. After the input of the
crude oil. independent variables, 27 observations
/experimental runs were generated to conduct
thestudy (Table 1).

Table 1: Experimental design

Observations Contaminant Rainfall intensity
Soil height (cm) conc. (mg/l) (mm/hr)
Obs1 10 1 5
Obs2 30 1 5
Obs3 50 1 5
Obs4 10 3 5
Obs5 30 3 5
Obs6 50 3 5
Obs7 10 5 5
Obs8 30 5 5
Obs9 50 5 5
Obs10 10 1 7.5
Obs11 30 1 7.5

www.ijera.com DOI: 10.9790/9622- 0908010112 2|P age

Ejikeme Ugwoha Journal of Engineering Research and Application www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622 Vol. 9,Issue 8 (Series -I) Aug 2019, pp 01-12

Obs12 50 1 7.5
Obs13 10 3 7.5
Obs14 30 3 7.5
Obs15 50 3 7.5
Obs16 10 5 7.5
Obs17 30 5 7.5
Obs18 50 5 7.5
Obs19 10 1 10
Obs20 30 1 10
Obs21 50 1 10
Obs22 10 3 10
Obs23 30 3 10
Obs24 50 3 10
Obs25 10 5 10
Obs26 30 5 10
Obs27 50 5 10

2.4. Experimental setup background TPH. After the contamination of the soil
A simple laboratory experiment was and the rainfall simulation, the effluent and soil
performed to investigate the transport and retention of samples were collected and analysed for leached and
crude oil compounds in sandy soil. The experimental retained TPH concentration, respectively. The soil
system used was designed and reported by Ugwoha et was thoroughly mixed together before a portion was
al. (2016) but with few modifications in the areas of collected.
material and soil height. A 4-inch (100 mm) polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) pipe of height 70 cm was used. The 2.6. Sample analysis
soil was placed and well compacted in the PVC pipe TPH of the water sample was
to the heights of 10, 30 and 50 cm, representing analysedusinggas chromatography with flame
different depths of unsaturated zone in Port Harcourt. ionization detector (GC-FID). Exactly 250 ml of the
The remaining void in the PVC pipe prevented the effluent sample was measured into a separating funnel
overflow of accumulated simulated rainfall water. The rinsed with dichloromethane. Exactly 25 ml of
weights of the 10, 30 and 50 cm heights of the soil dichloromethane was added to the effluent sample and
were 1524, 4572 and 7620g, respectively. shook vigorously to extract all the available organic
After the placing of the soil into the PVC material. The organic extract was passed through a
pipe, water was released on the soil via the rainfall column containing cotton wool, silica-gel and
simulator until the soil became saturated. The 10, 30 anhydrous sodium sulphate to remove debris and
and 50 cmsoil heights were saturated with 0.5, 1.2 moisture from the extract. Exactly 1 µl of the
and2.0 litres, respectively. The wetted soils were concentrated organic extract was injected into the GC-
allowed for 2 days to attain water content equivalent FIDby means of a hypodermic syringe through a
to field capacity hence imitating soil in a natural rubber septum into the column. The various fractions
environment.Thereafter, the soil was contaminated of the hydrocarbons were automatically detected as
with varying volumes of crude oil and subjected to they emerged from the column by the detector.From
varying volumes of rainfall simulations. The number the detected hydrocarbons, the TPH expressed in mg/l
of experimental runs and the corresponding crude oil was calculated.
concentration, rainfall intensity and soil height were The TPH of the soil samplewas also analysed
as shown in Table 1 in Section 2.3 using GC-FID after extraction and clean-
The rainfall intensities (5 mm/hr to 10 up/separation.
mm/hr) used in this study were deduce from the Extraction of organic material
average monthly rainfall of 203.03 mm/hr reported for Exactly 2 g of soil sample was weighed into
Port Harcourt (Uko and Tamunobereton-Ari, 2013). a clean extraction container. Exactly 10 ml of
extraction solvent (pentane) was added into the
2.5. Sample collection container and mixed thoroughly and allowed to settle.
The soil and water used in the experiment The mixture was carefully filtered into a clean solvent
was first analysed before contamination for rinsed extraction bottle using filter paper fitted into a

www.ijera.com DOI: 10.9790/9622- 0908010112 3|P age

Ejikeme Ugwoha Journal of Engineering Research and Application www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622 Vol. 9,Issue 8 (Series -I) Aug 2019, pp 01-12

Buchner funnel. The extract was concentrated to 2 ml for the crude oil, no trace of it was found inthe water
and then transferred for clean-up/separation. and soil samples.
Clean-up/Separation Table 4:Total petroleum hydrocarbons in crude oil,
Exactly 1 cm of moderately packed glass water and soil samples.
wool was placed at the bottom of a 10 mm ID x 250 Sample TPH
mm long chromatographic column. Slurry of 2 g Crude oil (mg/l) 23094.6
activated silica in 10 ml methylene chloride was Water (mg/l) 0.0
prepared and placed into the chromatographic Soil (mg/kg) 0.0
column. To the top of the column was added 0.5 cm
of sodium sulphate. The column was rinsed with 3.2. LeachedTPH concentrations
additional 10 ml of methylene chloride. The column The leachedTPH concentrations through the
was pre-eluted with 20 ml of pentane and allowed to soil depth at varying rainfall intensities and
flow through the column until the liquid in the column contaminant volumes is presented in Figure 1.
was just above the sulphate layer. Immediately 1 ml Generally, the leached TPH concentrations decreased
of the extracted sample was transferred into the with increasing soil depth but increased with
column. The extraction bottle was rinsed with 1 ml of increasing contaminant volume and rainfall intensity.
pentane and added to the column as well. The stop- The leached TPH concentrations ranged from 0.99
clock of the column was opened, and the eluent was mg/l (for soil depth of 50 cm with contaminant
collected with a 10 ml graduated cylinder. Just prior volume of 1 mg/l at rainfall intensity of 5 mm/hr) to
to exposure of the sodium sulphate layer to air, 7.39 mg/l (for soil depth of 10 cm with contaminant
pentane was added to the column in 2 ml increment. volume of 5 mg/l at rainfall intensity of 10 mm/hr).
Exactly 10 ml of the eluent was collected and was This implies that more groundwater contamination
labelled aliphatic. will occur with a thin unsaturated zone, higher
GC Analysis volume of contaminant spill and higher rainfall
The concentrated aliphatic fraction was intensity than with thick unsaturated zone, lower
transferred into a labelled glass vial with Teflon volume of contaminant spill and lower rainfall
rubber crimp caps for GC analysis. Exactly 1μlof the intensity.
concentrated sample was injected into the GC. The
TPH was calculated as described earlier. 3.2.1. Relationship between leached TPH
concentrations and independent variables
2.7. Development of transport and retention The relationship between the leached TPH
models concentrations and the three independent variables are
The transport and retention models were presented in Figures 2 - 4. Generally, the leached TPH
developed from the input variables. With the use of concentration is inversely related to the soil depth but
RSM, a predicted concept of the transport and directly related to the contaminant volume and rainfall
retention models were proposed as: intensity.
LC  a 0  a1 SH  a 2 C  a3 RI  a 4 SH 2 Generally, the lowest leached TPH
concentrations were obtained with the highest soil
 a5 C 2  a 6 RI 2  a 7 SH * C  a8 SH * RI depth and lowest contaminant volume and rainfall
intensity.
 a9 C * RI (1)
RC  a 0  a1 SH  a 2 C  a3 RI  a 4 SH 2
3.2.2. Leached TPH concentration model
The leached TPH concentration model
 a5 C 2  a 6 RI 2  a 7 SH * C  a8 SH * RI generated from the model concept proposed in
 a9 C * RI 2 Equation (1) is presented in Equation (3). From the
leached TPH concentration model it can be observed
where LC is the leached concentration (mg/l), RC is
that rainfall intensity had the highest coefficient
the retained concentration (mg/kg),
compared to the soil depth and contaminant volume.
a1,a2,a3,a4,a5,a6,a7,a8,a9 are coefficients, SH is the soil
More so, the correlation matrix between soil depth,
height (cm), C is the contaminant volume (ml) and RI
contaminant volume, rainfall intensity and the leached
is the rainfall intensity (mm/hr).
TPH concentration shows that rainfall intensity has a
strong correlation (0.7369) with the leached TPH
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION concentration while contaminant volume and soil
3.1. Baseline concentrations of total petroleum depth have weak (0.2750) and inverse (-0.3840)
hydrocarbons (TPH) correlation respectively with the leached TPH
The baseline concentrations of TPH for the concentration. This implies that a change in rainfall
crude oil, water and soil samples used are shown in intensity will have a higher impact on groundwater
Table 4. While the TPH was as high as 23094.6 mg/l

www.ijera.com DOI: 10.9790/9622- 0908010112 4|P age

Ejikeme Ugwoha Journal of Engineering Research and Application www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622 Vol. 9,Issue 8 (Series -I) Aug 2019, pp 01-12

contamination than a change in contaminant volume concentrations clustered around the trendline giving a
or soil depth. line of best fit and a very high correlation coefficient
LC  1.84148  0.69111* SH  0.49500 * (R2) of 0.9407 and predictive relevance (Q2) of
0.8273.
C  1.32611* RI  0.17222 * SH 2  0.08389 The validation of the model using the
relationship between the measured and predicted
* C 2  0.81056 * RI 2  0.26167 * SH * C  leached TPH concentration is presented in Figure 6. It
0.53667 * SH * RI  0.37917 * C * RI 3 can be observed that there is a very good agreement
between the measured and predicted TPH
concentration and this can be corroborated with high
3.2.3. Leached TPH model validation
R2 and Q2 values, implying that the developed model
The relationship between the measured and
can adequately predict the transport of crude oil
predicted leached TPH concentration is shown in
through a sandy unsaturated zone to the groundwater
Figure 5. It can be observed that there is a good
after release.
relationship between the measured and predicted
leached TPH concentration. Also, the leached TPH

Figure 1: Leached TPH concentrations for various soil depths and rainfall intensities

www.ijera.com DOI: 10.9790/9622- 0908010112 5|P age

Ejikeme Ugwoha Journal of Engineering Research and Application www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622 Vol. 9,Issue 8 (Series -I) Aug 2019, pp 01-12

3.83

Leached TPH conc. [mg/l] 3.33

2.83

2.33

1.83

1.33

0.83

0.33
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Soil height [cm]

Figure 2: Leached TPH concentrations through varying soil depths.

4.3

3.8
Leached TPH conc. [mg/l]

3.3

2.8

2.3

1.8

1.3

0.8

0.3
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Contaminant volume [ml]

Figure 3:Leached TPH concentrations through varying contaminant concentrations.

www.ijera.com DOI: 10.9790/9622- 0908010112 6|P age

Ejikeme Ugwoha Journal of Engineering Research and Application www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622 Vol. 9,Issue 8 (Series -I) Aug 2019, pp 01-12

4.77

4.27

3.77
Leached TPH conc. [mg/l]

3.27

2.77

2.27

1.77

1.27

0.77

0.27
5 6 7 8 9 10
Rainfall intensity [mm/h]

Figure 4:Leached TPH concentration through varying rainfall intensities.

8
Measured leached TPH concentration[mg/l]

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Predicted leached TPH concentration[mg/l]

Figure 5: Relationship between actual and predicted leached TPH concentrations

www.ijera.com DOI: 10.9790/9622- 0908010112 7|P age

Ejikeme Ugwoha Journal of Engineering Research and Application www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622 Vol. 9,Issue 8 (Series -I) Aug 2019, pp 01-12

8.00
Leached TPH concetration (mg/l)
7.00
6.00 R2 = 0.9407

5.00
4.00
3.00
2.00
1.00
0.00
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Observations

Figure 6: Comparison of measured and predicted leached TPH concentrations with different observation points.
so, the correlation matrix between soil depth,
3.3. Retained TPH concentrations contaminant volume, rainfall intensity and the
The retained TPH concentrations in the
unsaturated zone of varying soil depths at varying retained TPH concentration shows that contaminant
rainfall intensities and contaminant volumes is volume has a higher correlation (0.6122) with the
presented in Figure 7. Generally, the retained TPH retained TPH concentration while soil depth and
concentrations increased with increasing soil depth rainfall intensity have lower (0.5175) and inverse (-
and contaminant volumebut decreased with increasing 0.3083) correlation respectively with retained TPH
rainfall intensity. concentration. This implies that a change in volume of
The retained TPH concentrations ranged contaminant will have a higher impact in the amount
from 16.13 mg/kg (for soil depth of 30 cm with of contaminant retained than a change in rainfall
contaminant volume of 1 mg/l at rainfall intensity of intensity and soil depth.
10 mm/hr) to 133.18 mg/kg (for soil depth of 50 cm RC  31.07519  16.86278 * SH  19.94833* C
with contaminant volume of 5 mg/l at rainfall
intensity of 5 mm/hr). This implies that less  10.04667 * RI  10.66278 * SH 2  1.72278 * C 2
groundwater contamination will occur with a thick
unsaturated zone, higher volume of contaminant spill  2.89444 * RI 2  13.16917 * SH * C  4.80917
and lower rainfall intensity than with thin unsaturated * SH * RI  8.41333* C * RI 
4
zone, lower volume of contaminant spill and higher
3.3.3. Retained TPH model validation
rainfall intensity.
The relationship between the measured and
predicted retained TPH concentration is shown in
3.3.1. Relationship between retained TPH
Figure 11. It can be observed that there is a good
concentrations and independent variables
relationship between the measured and predicted
The relationship between the retained TPH
retained TPH concentration. Also, the retained TPH
concentrations and the three independent variables are
concentrations clustered around the trendline giving a
presented in Figures 8-10. Generally, the retained
line of best fit and a very high correlation coefficient
TPH concentration is directly related to the soil depth
(R2) of 0.9446 and predictive relevance (Q2) of
and contaminant volume but inversely related to the
0.8273.
rainfall intensity.
The validation of the model using the
relationship between the measured and predicted
3.3.2. Retained TPH concentration model retained TPH concentration is presented in Figure 12.
The retained TPH concentration model
It can be observed that there is a very good agreement
generated from the model concept proposed in
between the measured and predicted retained TPH
Equation (2) is presented in Equation (4). From the
concentration and this can be corroborated with high
retained TPH concentration model, it can be observed
R2 and Q2 values, implying that the developed
that contaminant volume had the highest coefficient
retention model can adequately predict the retention
compared to the soil depth and rainfall intensity. More
of crude oil in a sandy unsaturated zone following
release.

www.ijera.com DOI: 10.9790/9622- 0908010112 8|P age

Ejikeme Ugwoha Journal of Engineering Research and Application www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622 Vol. 9,Issue 8 (Series -I) Aug 2019, pp 01-12

Figure 7: Retained TPH concentrations for various soil depths and rainfall intensities

46
Retained TPH concentration[mg/kg]

41

36

31

26

21
10 20 30 40 50
Soil height [cm]

Figure 8: Retained TPH concentrations in varying soil depths.

www.ijera.com DOI: 10.9790/9622- 0908010112 9|P age

Ejikeme Ugwoha Journal of Engineering Research and Application www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622 Vol. 9,Issue 8 (Series -I) Aug 2019, pp 01-12

Retained concentration[mg/kg]
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
1 2 3 4 5
Contaminant volume [ml]

Figure 9: Retained TPH concentrations for varying contaminant volumes.

50
Retained concentration[mg/kg]

45
40
35
30
25
20
15
5 6 7 8 9 10
Rainfall intensity [mm/h]

Figure 10: Retained TPH concentration for varying rainfall intensities.

140
Measured retained TPH conc. [mg/kg]

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Predicted retained TPH conc. [mg/kg]

Figure 11: Relationship between measured and predicted retained TPH concentrations

www.ijera.com DOI: 10.9790/9622- 0908010112 10 | P a g e

Ejikeme Ugwoha Journal of Engineering Research and Application www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622 Vol. 9,Issue 8 (Series -I) Aug 2019, pp 01-12

R2 = 0.9446
Q2 = 0.8273
140
Retained TPH conc. (mg/kg)

120
100
80
60
40
20
0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27
Observations

Figure 12: Comparison of measured and predicted retained TPH concentrations with different observation
points.
Niger Delta Area of Nigeria. Research Journal
IV. CONCLUSION of Environmental Sciences, 3(3): 316-320
The transport and retention of crude oil in [2]. API (1972) The Migration of Petroleum
sandy soil was studied by varying three independent Products in Soil and Groundwater: Principles
variables, namely soil depth, contaminant volume and and Countermeasures. American Petroleum
rainfall intensity, in a mesocosm. The results obtained Institute, Report, 4149.
revealed that the leached total petroleum [3]. Aroh, K.N., Ubong, I.U., Eze, C.L., Harry,
hydrocarbons (TPH) concentrations decreased with I.M., Umo-Otong, J.C. and Gobo, A.E. (2010)
increasing soil depth but increased with increasing Oil spill incidents and pipeline vandalization in
contaminant volume and rainfall intensity, implying Nigeria Impact on public health and negation to
that more groundwater contamination will occur with attainment of Millennium development goal:
a thin unsaturated zone and higher volume of the Ishiagu example.
contaminant spill and rainfall intensity than with thick [4]. Atlas, R.M. and Bartha, R. (1987) Microbial
unsaturated zone and lower volume of contaminant Ecology. Fundamentals and Applications. 2 nd
spill and rainfall intensity.On the other hand, the ed. Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company
retained TPH concentrations increased with Inc., California. Pp 123-128
increasing soil depth and contaminant volume but [5]. Brost, E.J. and DeVaull, G.E. (2000) Non-
decreased with increasing rainfall intensity, implying aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) mobility limits in
that less groundwater contamination will occur with a soil. API Soil and Groundwater Research
thick unsaturated zone, higher volume of contaminant Bulletin, 9: 1-9
spill and lower rainfall intensity than with thin [6]. Ellis, R., Balba, M.J. and Theile, P. (1990)
unsaturated zone, lower volume of contaminant spill Bioremediation of oil contaminated land.
and higher rainfall intensity. Journal of Environmental Technology, 11: 443-
From the measured leached and retained 454
TPH concentrations, transport and retention models [7]. Keller, K.M. and Simmons, C.S. (2005) The
were developed. The models were used to fit the influence of selected liquid and soil properties
transport and retention of crude oil in sandy soil after on the propagation of spills over flat permeable
release with correlation coefficient of 0.9407 and surface. Pacific Northwest National
0.9446 and predictive relevance of 0.8273 and 0.8422 Laboratory, Washington, Report, PNNL-
for the transport model and retention model 15058.
respectively, indicating that the developed models can [8]. Liu, R.F., Chen, H.H., Wang, Y.L. and Liu, F.
adequately predict the transport and retention of crude (2007) Ways of groundwater pollution by oil in
oil in sandy soil following release. an oilfield. Geology in China, 34(1): 153-159
[9]. McMillen, S.J., Magaw, R.I., Kerr, J.M.,
REFERENCES Sweeney, R.E., Nakles, D.V. and Geiger, S.C.
[1]. Abii, T.A. and Nwosu, P.C. (2009) The effect (2000) A new risk based approach to establish
of oil spillage on soil of Eleme in River state of clean up levels for total petroleum
hydrocarbon. In: Sublette, K.L. (ed.), 438-459,

www.ijera.com DOI: 10.9790/9622- 0908010112 11 | P a g e

Ejikeme Ugwoha Journal of Engineering Research and Application www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622 Vol. 9,Issue 8 (Series -I) Aug 2019, pp 01-12

Proceeding of the 6th International Petroleum

Environmental Conference, Houston, TX.
SCG, Tulsa, OK.
[10]. Mullins, O.C. (2007) Rebuttal to comment by
professors Herod, Kandiyoti, and Bartle on
‘Molecular size and weight of asphaltene and
asphaltene solubility fractions from coals,
crude oils and bitumen. Fuel, 86: 309-312
[11]. Ngobiri, C.N., Ayuk, A.A. and Awunuso, I.I.
(2007) Differential degradation of hydrocarbon
fractions during bioremediation of crude oil
polluted sites in Niger Delta area. Journal of
Chemical Society of Nigeria, 32: 151-158
[12]. Odjuvwuederhie,I., Omoborand, D.G. and
Adun, N.F. (2006) The effect of oil spillage on
crop field and farm income in Delta state
Nigeria. Journal of Central Europe Agriculture,
7: 41-48
[13]. Okafor, N. (1985) Aquatic and Wastes
Microbiology, 4th Dimension Publishers,
Enugu, pp. 41-128
[14]. Speight, J.G. (2002) Handbook of petroleum
product analysis. Wiley-Interscience, New
York.
[15]. Uchegbu, S.N. (1998) Environmental
Management and Protection, Precious Printers
and Publishers, Enugu, pp. 224
[16]. Ugwoha, E., Nwankwo, C.A. and Okoronkwo,
C.B. (2016) Effect of soil type on the fate of
kerosene compounds in the presence of water
and ethanol. Journal of Environmental Studies,
2(1): 1-8
[17]. Uko, E.D.and Tamunobereton-Ari, I. (2013)
Variability of climate parameters in Port
Harcourt, Nigeria. Journal of Emerging Trends
in Engineering and Applied Sciences, 4(5):
727-730.
[18]. Verbruggen, E.M.J. (2004) Environmental risk
limits for mineral oil (total petroleum
hydrocarbons). National Institute for Public
Health and the Environment (RIVM), Report,
601501021/2004.

Ejikeme Ugwoha" Modelling the Transport of Crude Oil in Sandy Soil" International Journal of
Engineering Research and Applications (IJERA), Vol. 09, No.08, 2019, pp. 01-12

www.ijera.com DOI: 10.9790/9622- 0908010112 12 | P a g e