Treatment of Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Oil-Based Drill Cutting Mud Using BiOWiSH Bioaugmentation Products

<p>The efficacy of BiOWiSHTM-Thai Aqua, a commercially discontinued microbial product, in remediating oil based drill-cutting mud (DCM) was researched in this study. Experimentation was performed directly on DCM and on sand contaminated with oil extracted from DCM. A gas chromatograph-mass spectrometrer and a respirometer were used for analysis of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and CO2 production respectively. Five experiments were analyzed by TPH extraction and analysis; four experiments were analyzed by respirometric analysis. The specific microcosm conditions tested in the experiments were control, nutrient-only control, and bioaugmentation product.</p> <p>This study concluded that there might be potential for bioaugmentation of TPH using BiOWiSHTM-Thai Aqua. However, a more extensive study including multiple replicates of samples over a longer sampling time period is required to make a conclusion. TPH analysis from the Sand Microcosm Experiment suggested that in seven days, the addition of BiOWiSHTM-Thai Aqua improved TPH removal relative to the control by 89% while the nutrient-only control improved by 58%. Respirometric analysis suggested CO2 respiration of glucose overshadowed CO2 respiration from biodegradation. Thus, major conclusions could not be made from the respirometric analysis.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Year dc:date.available

2015

Author dc:creator

• Zepeda, Diego Jose Cardenas

Contributors dc:contributor

• Nirupam Pal

• Drill Cutting Mud
• Petroleum Hydrocarbons
• Bioaugmentation
• Bioremediation
• Environmental Engineering

Identifier

10.15368/theses.2015.92

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.calpoly.edu:theses-2572