Aggregation of Diesel Contaminated Soil for Bioremediation

Diesel contaminated soil (DCS) contained a large amount of the hydrocarbons and salt which was dominated by soluble sodium chloride. Aggregation process which made the desired aggregate size distribution could speed up the degradation rate of the hydrocarbons since the aggregated DCS had better physical characteristics than the non-aggregated material. Artificial aggregation increased pores >30 μm by approximately 5% and reduced pores <1 μm by 5%, but did not change the percentage of the pores between 1 and 30 μm. The saturated hydraulic conductivity of non-aggregated DCS was 5×10−6 m · s−1, but it increased to 1×10−5 m · s−1 after aggregation. The compression index of the non-aggregated DCS was 0.0186; however, the artificial aggregates with and without lime were 0.031 and 0.028, respectively. DCS could be piled 0.2 m deep without artificial aggregation; however, it could be applied 0.28 m deep when artificial aggregates were formed without limiting O2 transport.