Oral Presentation Australasian Groundwater Conference 2017

Assessment of polar and non-polar material in the groundwater of Raudhatain and Umm Al-Aish fresh groundwater fields of Kuwait (37)

Adel Dr Al-Haddad 1 , Tariq Mr Rashid 1 , Bandar Mr Al-Salman 1 , Abdullah Mr Bushehri 1
  1. Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait, KUWAIT

Part of fresh groundwater of Raudhatain and Umm Al-Aish freshwater fields has been contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons leached from petroleum lakes and petroleum contaminated soil resulting from 1991 Gulf War. Pump and treat methodology has been suggested for treatment of contaminated groundwater. Selection and designing of methodologies for the treatment of contaminants requires knowledge related to types and physiochemical properties of contaminants. Therefore, as a preliminary step towards treatment of contaminated water, a study was conducted in order to identify and quantify contaminants in the terms of polar and nonpolar material of contaminated water. Groundwater samples were collected from 10 monitoring wells (nine contaminated and one uncontaminated) of water fields. Collected samples were analyzed for TPH, TOC, phenol, tannin and lignin, volatile acids and UV-induced fluorescence before and after activated silica gel. The silica gel splits aggregated polar and nonpolar material by retaining polar material on its activated surfaces. The results of the study indicated that both polar and nonpolar materials are present in the contaminated groundwater. TPH, UV-induced fluorescence emission sensitive, phenol and volatile acids contents were dominantly composed of polar material 86%, 84%, 73% and 90%, respectively, whereas TOC and tannin and lignin contents were dominantly composed of nonpolar material 58% and 60%, respectively. The results suggest treatment techniques specific for polar and nonpolar contents, will be required for the treatment of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated groundwater.  

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