Abstract
The feasibility of using agricultural waste from drumstick (<i>Moringa Oleifera Lam</i>.) seed as organic fertilizer to remediate petroleum sludge impacted soils within an 8.5 km radius from Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) in Delta State, Nigeria was studied using standard methods. The experimental set-up was monitored for 90 days at 30 days interval. The total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contents across the 5 sampling sites(A to E) for day 1 were (293846.00, 4255.87), (123874.00, 2942.04), (97291.00, 1818.38), (87561.23, 928.22), (48063.61, 189.93) (mg/kg) as against the control (651.18, 68.06) (mg/kg) respectively. After treatment with the agro-waste from <i>Moringa</i> seed for 90 days, the TPH and PAH contents from sites A to E degraded to (652.58, 5.66), (520.67, 3.09), (254.32, 4.81), (68.80, 0.48) and (61.29, 1.66) (mg/kg) while the control site exhibited (50.62, 0.46) (mg/kg) respectively as detected via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID). From the Soil Quality Standards (SQSs) conducted after day 30, only the control site was free from the traces of contamination recorded at day 1. SQSs after 60 days indicated that sites D and E were no more contaminated. SQSs conducted after 90 days revealed that all the sites were free from petroleum hydrocarbon contamination. This result indicated that <i>Moringa Oleifera</i> seed cake (MOSC) is a suitable biostimulant for remediation of petroleum sludge impacted soils.
Highlights
In recent times, the large increase of industrial development and urbanization favoured the release of hazardous chemicals into the environment [1, 2]
To validate the analytical procedure for quantitative determination of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) in soil samples, calibration curves were constructed with the external standard multipoint calibration for each TPH and PAH
At the lower end of the range, the restrictive factor was limit of quantification (LoQ), while, at the upper end, limitations were imposed by various effects depending on the instrument response
Summary
The large increase of industrial development and urbanization favoured the release of hazardous chemicals into the environment [1, 2]. Several chemicals, including organic compounds such as petroleum hydrocarbons [total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)], pesticides, dyes and inorganic compounds like heavy metals and radionuclides, may persistently accumulate in soils and sediments [3,4,5]. This effect has been confirmed to cause a potential menace to human health and environment quality, due to their carcinogenic and mutagenic effects, and ability to bioconcentrate throughout the trophic chain [6, 7]. In this work, the feasibility of organic waste from Moringa Oliferaseed as a biostimulant to remediate petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soil samples is being studied
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
