Assessment of petroleum sludge pollution risk on some characteristics of active carbon-treated soil

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of various active carbon weights (100 and 150 g)and sizes (0.3, 1.5 and 4 mm) on the remediation of soil hydrocarbon pollution and monitor the negative impacts of petroleum hydrocarbons on parameters such as C/N, electrical conductivity (EC) and hydrophobicity of aggregates in petroleum polluted soil. This pilot study was conducted over 60 days as a split-plot in time experiment based on a completely randomized design with three replicates and included seven treatments (W100S0.3, W100S1.5, W100S4, W150S0.3, W150S1.5, W150S4, C), in which w and s indicated active carbon weight (g) and size (mm), respectively. The results showed that the application of active carbon at smaller sizes resulted in a significant decrease in the concentrations of C, N, C/N, pH, and total petroleum hydrocarbons )TPH(.. Active carbon treatment with 150 g weight and 0.3 mm size was the most effective treatment in TPH biodegradation, reduction of organic carbon content and C/N ratio in the polluted soil. Also, this treatment decreased aggregate hydrophobicity and dispersible clay percentage by TPH degradation.