How to clean oil polluted ground water to make suitable for drinking and agriculture use?

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How to clean oil polluted ground water to make suitable for drinking and agriculture use?

Is it possible to remove the contaminated oil from ground water used for agriculture and drinking ?
People living in Jaffna are facing a grave threat in accessing clean drinking water due to groundwater pollution caused by oil leakage. In recent days, oil waste is clearly observed in drinking-water sources (wells etc) in Chunnagam and Valigamam areas. Wells are the prime and mostly the sole source of water in Jaffna and this contamination is severely affecting the livelihood in those areas.
This issue has resulted in scarcity for clean drinking water for the people living in the areas. No satisfactory action has been taken yet by authorities. Hence, there is an imminent need to create awareness of the issue to a wider audience in order to accelerate the phase at which actions are taken to solve the issue.
Can any body give a sustainable solution fore this burning issue in Northern Sri Lanka?

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29 Answers

  3. I am a bit late to comment.This problem was communicated to Swami Valmiki Sreenivasa Ayyangarya and another scientist based in India. The oil spill in wells, thereby contaminating the water can be treated by Swami Valmiki Srenivasa Ayyangarya and rendered safe on a sustainable basis. Unless we receive an invitation from the government sources, we cannot step in.

  4. Addressing Groundwater Contamination

    Dear Sivakumar,

    The issue is complicated, and goes beyond treatment.

    First, as one responder noted, you first have to remove the source(s) for the contamination.  Often, the sources are not all known or easily identified (e.g., leaking underground storage tanks, buried leaking fuel lines, etc.).  Removing the source may also include removing large volumes of soil saturated with the hydrocarbon contamination, which acts as a continuous source of release.  Without removing the source(s), there will be a continuous introduction of contamination into groundwater, which will require an indefinite period for water treatment. 

    One must also attempt to delineate the extent of the groundwater contamination, as it will migrate and spread over time, potentially affecting more wells.  Due to hydraulic stresses, drinking water wells can affect groundwater flow patterns, particularly if they pump fairly large volumes of water, for example, a community production well(s) or irrigation well(s).  Thus, they can draw the contamination into their flow path, ultimately contaminating the well(s).

    Without proper delineation of the groundwater contamination plume, it will be difficult to prevent it's continued impact without an active form of recovery; for example, "capture wells" that actively pump along the downgradient fringe of the plume (and or in the source areas) to prevent its continued movement.  

    Of course you can install treatment on the wells that are being used. 

    A few quick points.

    One respondent wisely noted that there could be other contaminants.  That is a valid point, and a chemical analysis that includes metals and other potential contaminants should be performed.  And of course if there are multiple sources, each may have different contaminants. 

    Fortunately, unlike chlorinated solvents, hydrocarbon contaminants often degrade with time and distance from the source.   However, in your case, it appears that the contamination has reached potable wells, so this "natural remediation" is not a feasible alternative. 

    As far as different types of remediation technologies, you might visit the following U.S. EPA website for more information, specific to contaminant types and technologies.

    http://www.epa.gov/superfund/remedytech/remed.htm

     

     

     

  6. Mr. Subramaniam, Greetign s from the USA. There adre menay methods of dealing wth this problem, but we have ti start with the basics. What is the source of this pollution? This will determione the amount and viscosity of the oil. from thewre ar ethere are many erchnologies available to rectify this problem. If you would kindly let me know the answers i will give you severtal solutions.

  7. The removal of Oil from groundwater to make it safe to drink, the following process they can be used: 1. firstly you need to have skimmer, size it can depend on the borehole discharge l/s 2. Ultra filtration to trap some of suspended solids or use package plant after the water passes the skimmer. 3. Package plant it depend on the number of reservoir, in order to store raw water and final effluent. 4. Reservoir must have scour valve especially, the one that is going to receive water from the skimmer before get it package plant/ ultra filtration. Hoping that you are answered any clarity make follow up on that I will explain clearly to you. Don't hesitate to contact me, you can arrange then I will do it practical to you. Tank you, Phetla

  8. This problem is no different than the one that the oil companies who are drilling into the shale plays of the country are experiencing. Back in 2004 Cal-Neva Water Quality Research Institute out of Newcastle California worked with Devon energy on the problem of recycling of what was called Slick Frac Water which was a product of the natural gas drilling to get it from the shale. We developed a water cleaning system that is called Electo-coagulation. The system uses electrodes and cathodes of a special design in a specially designed system to allow the water to go through tubes containing these electrodes and electricity is used to destroy not only the oil in the water but it kills every living thing in the water such as virus, bacteria, algea ETC. The oil comes out looking like specs of black pepper and the water is then drinkable. More info can be read on this at www.eco-web.com then click on Editorials and then on Authors and look for the white papers by Dr. Abe Beagles on the subject. Or you can call him at 916-877-1553.

  9. Is it possible to remove the contaminated oil from ground water used for agriculture and drinking ?

    The answer to your question is found in a technology called BioRemediation. The "Father" of this technology was  Dr Carl H. Oppenheimer jr. The microbial species he discovered and worked with for more than 40 years was called ARCHAEA. Their singular function in nature is to reduce organic compounds into their elemental form.  Once they are in contact with the oil. (or any toxic substance) they will biodegrade it until it reaches elemental form. In this case carbon. The by products are usually oxygen and any other impurities in that grade of oil. Results are a potable drinking water, nutrients normally found in nature which will be consumed by all life in the soil and of course highly oxygenated water usable by all. 

     First open water test was in 1990, Houston channel by University of Texas and The Texas land commission  many international uses since then. Most notably the Spain oil spill, the Galapagos island, the north sea of japan. a total of 2500 clean ups around the world.   For info and reports/pictures and videos email biozomesales@biozome.com.  Guy

  10. All this is about - Biological and it is to play with fire to want to recycle the water polluted for the agriculture or the consumption of drinking water. It should be known that the pollution term exclusivment is not exclusivment booked with what is seen: the micro chemical particles and chemical pollution diffuses are not seen but they exist. Can be that in first it would be good to go up until the source to find the causes of this pollution and to start by eliminating them. To treat groundwater polluted without being concerned with source of pollution is not a vision objective. What to say this polluted groundwater with which million people is supplied in their habitat for their daily consumption? The problems of even the most sophisticated membranes will always let pass invisible but toxic diffuse pollution. In the concept of Cleansing Biological we set up various functions to eliminate the organic matter, biological, while requesting adhesion from biology attitude by removing any use of domestic maintenance products containing of micro the pollutant chemical.

  11. Bioremediation

    Graet Sivakumar,

    Greetings.I can see several answers being posted and agree with a section that proposes the use of Naturally found biological Organisms or the method of Bioremediation.

    this will not just remove oil but also its components present and that cannot be scored as of now but may rise in levels later,

    Regards

    Suhasini

  12. Hι Sivakumar, My experience on this topic has to do with the use of constructed wetlands (CWs). I was involved in a related project in Germany, in one of the largest industrial areas of the country (chemical industry, petrochemical, oil refineries). The groundwater there was heavily polluted for many decades with hydrocarbons, phenols etc. We tested first in pilot scale several designs of CWs and we resulted with the optimum design. Since last June the full-scale system is operating and is treating onsite the contaminated groundwater. We calculated that within a period of 5 years money saved are almost 1.7 million euros compared to conventional mechanical technologies (air stripping etc.). Another project took place in Oman: the problem there was that during oil extraction, water containing oil was also coming out. Using hydrocyclones we managed to separate the oil from the water (95% removal) and the pumped water was followingly treated in constructed wetlands for the removal of hydrocarbon content. The treated water was then used for irrigation (we were in the middle of the desert...). Generally, this technology seems very promising and effective, while it is sustainable since the energy consumption is minimum (usually only for pumping) and maintenance costs are respectively reduced. I would be glad to discuss with you further should you have any questions. Best regards, Alex

  13. A multifold approach to address the problem.

    Dear Sivakumar Subramaniam

    The presentation you have attached and the text of your question speaks by itself. In my words, addressing the problems needs multifold and indeed multi-disciplinary approach. According to my perception, as also implicitly mentioned in the presentation you have attached, there are two direct approaches to tackle the problem. Both can be used simultaneously and certainly it is required to do so. First is to treat the extracted water for further use and second is to control the source of contamination so that future contamination may be stopped or at least controlled to the minimum level and extent of it be known. Below, I will describe these in a little more detail.

    1. Treatment of extracted water from such contaminated aquifer is the earliest possible remedy you can adopt. As perceived from the document you have attached, the main source of contamination is organic matter (i.e. oil contamination), heavy metals (Pb e.g.) and toxic chemicals (due to pharm and agro chemicals). “Oxidation” and “Chemical Precipitation” can be used to remove organic matter, “Activated Carbon” is useful for heavy metals. For toxic chemicals, depending upon the type and concentration of toxicity one or more method can be employed, for example, “Activated Carbon”, “Hydrogen Peroxide Disinfection”, “Ozone Disinfection” etc.. These are just initial guideline and a consultant group may be hired to devise a more appropriate solution considering level of treatment required, quantity of water extracted, economy etc.
    2. After you will have mobilized a team, which will work on treatment of drinking water to safeguard population from groundwater pollution, your second line of action, probably, should be to work on aquifer study. This can be well accomplished by modelling the aquifer and contaminant transport using tools like MODFLOW and PHREEQC. You will need geologic maps of the area, if these are not already available either assume the geologic conditions by secondary sources of data or go for a proper geologic survey. All sources of contamination, soil properties and water quality tests need to be incorporated. Apply different techniques to remove the contamination and predict using the model that how effective that technique will be, how much time it will take to clean the aquifer using that technique etc.. This also required as sometime apparently the main source of contamination is actually not really big source. Only with modelling study you will in a good position to locate and control the big sources of contamination. With this you will be able to come on more cost effective method to address the problem.
    3. After this you may think upon suggesting and convincing government regarding policy guidelines. For example policy change about treatment and disposal of effluent from power houses, other industries and agricultural usages. Process flow of certain inspection mechanism from EPA etc. can be agreed upon by stakeholder. Awareness campaigns can be organized in public using print or TV media about safe usage of drinking water and using water without wastage etc.
    4. This can used as a good research project and one or PhDs can be arranged to address different dimensions of the problem.

  14. Director jade Dragon LLC

    Hello Sivakumar,

    Oil pollution in ground water can be rather easily treated, but there is a treatment cost.  For potable water, the easiest solution is to use activated carbon to remove the hydrocarbons.  Sri Lanka is a major producer and exported of activated carbon.  So, there should be ample domestic supplies at relatively low cost to treat drinking water.

    Agricultural water does not have to be as clean as drinking water.  You can likely get by with simple CPI (Corregated Plate Separator).  These are simple devices that separate the free phase oil from water.  They are readily available on the Internet.  I expect there are numerous fabricators in Sri Lanka that can manufacture suitable equipment.

    Cordially,

    F. Morris Hoagland, PE

  15. Oil Removal Solution Suitable for Local Circumstances

    Dear Sir,

    I suggest the following simple solution that should be sustainable for Sri Lanka.  This treatment concept allows water to cascade, i.e. flow by gravity in series, through three ponds or shallow basins as follows:

    1) If free oil exceeds 10 mg/L, use a settling pond sized to allow the free oil to separate from the water and accumulate on the surface for periodic removal by decanting.  Water after free oil separation would exit via an underflow baffle that extends well below the oil level.  This is a very simple yet robust method to remove free oil.  It's possible to enhance removal of emulsified oil by adding emulsion breakers to the feed pipeline, allowing the water to flow through a series of pipe elbows to assure mixing.  However, emulsion chemicals may be an unnecessary expense unless the amount of emulsified oil is very significant.

    2) Water would next flow by gravity through a slow sand filter which would remove any remaining free oil by physical filtration by the sand and dissolved oil by biological metabolism by biofilms that will grow on the sand.  Periodically the sand will require replacement and re-ripening (allow new biofilm to grow).  Water would exit via collector pipes at the bottom with 10 cm of gravel above the pipes and another 10-15 cm of filter sand on top of the gravel.

    3) Sand filtered water would flow by gravity into a shallow basin or pond configured similarly to the slow sand filter. but would  contain biochar produced from local biomass (wood, coconut shells, etc.) in place of the sand. The biochar would act like activated carbon to adsorb organic contaminants still present after slow sand treatment. There are references online that describe how biochar can be activated to give it adsorption properties so this might take some further development work for your particular application.

     Treated water would flow into a sump for transfer to water users with a sump pump.  Treated water quality can be easily checked on a regular basis by reducing pH of a sample to 2 and evaluating turbidity and color in the sample jar.  The observations of this test should be correlated to lab analyses during development of the process.

    I hope this is helpful, and good luck!

    Joe Zuback

    Global Water Advisors, Inc.

  16. Light activated Nanotechnology Water Treatment

    There are two parts to the contamination, the dissolved contamination and the suspended contamination.  The suspended contamination can be reduced by vortex filters in a sustainable way and possibly other methods, but the dissolved contaminants are more difficult.  Puralytics has developed a floating mesh with a sunlight activated nanotechnology coated mesh (called the LilyPad) for treating water which uses aggressive photochemical reactions at the surface of the mesh to break apart organic contaminants.  Dissolved contaminants like petrochemicals are completely destroyed in this process, and no chemicals or waste stream is generated - byproducts are CO2 and water.  This is powerful, environmentally sustainable technology, which can be used for long periods in a passive way without chemicals, filters, etc. once excessive suspended contamination is reduced.  More info > http://www.puralytics.com/html/lilypad.php  

  18. It is indeed possible to clean the water and there are numerous technologies that can be used. One important aspect to understand is whether there is an oil/water emulation as this emulsion will have to be broken in order to remove the emulsified oil from the water. It is possible to break the emulsion and get very clean water. Do you perhaps have any water quality?

  19. It is indeed possible to clean the water and there are numerous technologies that can be used. The most important aspect to understand is whether there is an oil/water emulsion as the emulsion will have to be broken in order to remove the emulsified oil. Do you perhaps have any water quality?

  20. Sivakumar, When you state "contaminated oil", that typically means oil that has been discarded after use. This could mean that the oil has elevated heavy metals which can contaminant oil from part wear. I would be very careful about considering this for drinking water even if the organic fraction could be removed to acceptable levels.

  21. How to clean oil polluted ground water to make suitable for drinking and agriculture use?

    Let me know the oil content (in terms of ppm or mg/l) so that I can suggest an effective treatment

    MP Sukumaran

  23. Address source(s) first

    The first step is to locate and remove the source(s) of the oil contamination.  Until you stop additional contamination from entering the groundwater your clean-up efforts will be fighting a losing battle.

    The best in-situ treatment for petroleum products is biological - naturally-occurring soil microbes will break down the organic molecules as long as they have sufficient oxygen to do their job.  This will require adding dissolved air to the groundwater eventually because the microbes will use up available oxygen over time.  Ferric iron can also be used to feed the microbes, but generally dissolved oxygen will move through the aquifer more readily. Installing airlines with compressors in as many wells as possible is the way to do this.  This method can also be used to treat extracted groundwater using treatment vessels that accomplish the same thing - I'm not a vendor but there are many versions of this available.  This would be used for drinking water only because large volume treatment would be cost prohibitive in most cases.  There may also be a need for additional treatment for potable water.

    Hope this helps and good luck.

  25. Biological treatment

    Hello Sivakumar,

    Some comments refer to simple oil water separation but this will not take care of the fraction of the oil which formed an emulsion and is sort of dissolved in the water. Another thing to consider is that oil contamination caused by humans is usually a mixture of different hydrocarbon chain lenghts and aromatics. Even after oil water separation you will encounter these substances in the water phase. Therefore its not suitable as drinking water or even irrigation water.

    I would recommend a physcio-chemical pretreatment followed by biological treatment of the water. This will take care of the majority of the hydrocarbons in both free phase as "dissolved" phase. To upgrade this water to irrigation water I suppose an Ultra Filtration step will be sufficient. Drinking water quality would require reversed osmosis.

    For treating the groundwater prior to well extraction you could consider in situ remediation technologies. We offer a system which is able to promote biodegradation of oil in groundwater. It could be installed  around these wells at a certain distance to create a treatment zone in the aquifer. This would save you expensive above ground equipment.

  26. Although I am not an expert on Water purification, common sense tells me that oil does not mix with water. Taking this cue, one can adopt two methods for oil removal - through selective filtration which removes oil and then followed by routine treatment for reuse; secondly, there are specific bacteria which thrive on oil and they suck the oil out for the remaining water to be routinely treated.

  28. Oil removal using ferrites

    The latest technology is ferrites.....see this link  https://prezi.com/a_-a5pblktie/removal-of-oil-spill-on-seawater-using-magnetic-ferrite-nanoparticle-coated-by-polymer/

  29. By using oil/water separation through the use of ultra filtration (UF) membranes.