Abstract
The remediation of beaches contaminated with oil includes the application of surfactants and/or the application of amendments to enhance oil biodegradation (i.e., bioremediation). This study focused on evaluating the practicability of the high pressure injection (HPI) of dissolved chemicals into the subsurface of a lentic Alaskan beach subjected to a 5 m tidal range. A conservative tracer, lithium, in a lithium bromide (LiBr) solution, was injected into the beach at 1.0 m depth near the mid-tide line. The flow rate was varied between 1.0 and 1.5 L/min, and the resulting injection pressure varied between 3 m and 6 m of water. The concentration of the injected tracer was measured from four surrounding monitoring wells at multiple depths. The HPI associated with a flow rate of 1.5 L/min resulted in a Darcy flux in the cross-shore direction at 1.15 × 10−5 m/s compared to that of 7.5 × 10−6 m/s under normal conditions. The HPI, thus, enhanced the hydraulic conveyance of the beach. The results revealed that the tracer plume dispersed an area of ~12 m2 within 24 h. These results suggest that deep injection of solutions into a gravel beach is a viable approach for remediating beaches.
Highlights
The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound (PWS) released around 37,000 metric tons of Alaskna North Slope crude oil onto the water
The results suggest that high pressure injection (HPI), under appropriate flow rates, enhanced the hydraulic conveyance of the beach, which is an indicator implying that the HPI of chemicals would enhance oil biodegradation and/or the HPI of surfactants would allow dislodgement of entrapped oil
The remediation of beaches contaminated with oil includes the application of surfactants and/or the application of amendments to enhance oil biodegradation
Summary
The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound (PWS) released around 37,000 metric tons of Alaskna North Slope crude oil onto the water. Et al [2,3] estimated that between 60 and 100 tons of oil still persist in many PWS beaches initially polluted with Exxon. The evidence of oil persistence in these beaches was reported in various studies [4,5,6]. The persistent oil contains a considerable portion of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), which are known to cause adverse ecological impact on wildlife upon exposure. Et al [7] reported that the increase in sea otter subpopulation was not at the expected rate in the heavily oiled northern
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