**3.1 Site investigation**

Field investigation was formulated to recognise, manage, and remediate the oilcontaminated sand. As the first step, the concentration and type of contamination present ought to be determined in the Greater Al-Burqan oil field. The data from the investigation will be utilised to plan future rehabilitation works. As such, the aim of this survey can be summarised as:


The selected approached was based upon the concepts of soil survey. The main parameters measured were the depth of contamination (by site measurement), TPH level (using gravimetric method), colour of the soil (using Munsell colour chart), and the texture of the soil. The site investigation categorises the oil-contaminated soil into four layers, namely, liquid oil, tar mat, oily soil, soot and clean soil with no contamination. For remediation the bulk of the contaminated soil to be dealt with has oily soil characteristics; also in some areas the oily soil placed under the liquid oil requires to be treated. In addition, all of these areas may contain unexploded ordnance (UXO). Any method for remediation of the tar mat and soot would need to take into account that they occur over an extensive area and form a thin layer on the soil surface.

#### **3.2 Preliminary survey**

It is evident from the field data in **Figure 2** that these layers of contaminated oil can be segregated based on their colour and property consistency. Typically, weathered crude oil is black, oily soil is dark brown to black with a moderate to slightly hard consistency, while the colour of tar mat is black with a hard stability. The depth of these oil lakes is 70 cm below the surface; therefore, the crude oil has penetrated the soil to different depths subject to the condition and characteristics of the soil belowground (**Figure 2**).

**157**

investigation.

**Figure 2.**

*3.3.1 Soil sampling*

**3.3 Characterisation of oil lakes**

conducted at the University of Portsmouth, UK.

meanwhile the sludge will be taken by the KOC for reuse.

*The Assessment Strategy for Selecting and Evaluating Geoenvironmental Remediation*

A thick oily sludge deposit has covered the affected areas with a thicker layer beneath, and oil has seeped through aided by gravity and rainfall [6, 7]. Besides this, the quality of oil has deteriorated caused by prolonged exposure to the extreme weather. The volatile hydrocarbons within the oil structure have been lost, and the oil has endured changes in its chemical and physical properties causing its sale not as lucrative. The nature of layers and the manner they are arranged provide indication of the category of contamination, the three contamination categories in **Figure 2**. Different sorts of oil-contaminated soils might not be differentiated using only the analytical results. For example, field investigation is vital to classify these contaminations, as they require various remediation methods to remediate or rehabilitate the contaminated site or options of land use; furthermore, varying physical characteristics are noticed during the

*The layers in the oil lake at the Burgan oil field in the State of Kuwait (13 Jan 2012).*

It is vital to evaluate the characteristics of Kuwait's oil-contaminated sands such as organic and inorganic material contents and soil particle size distributions in order to select the appropriate treatment method. All analytical methods were

The soil samples were collected from the Burgan oil field in the south of the Kuwaiti desert. The sample was collected from the edge of lake no. 105, in September 2011 (**Figure 3**). Firstly, the KOC and Ministry of Defence (MOD) checked for unexploded bombs and landmines, and then a hand shovel was used to remove about 3 cm of oily sludge from the soil surface. Then, after which heavily oil-contaminated soil (concentration of oil 35%) was collected at a depth of approximately 30 cm below the surface level of oily sludge. Subsequently, the samples were placed into plastic containers after being excavated from the soil with a shovel. This project has been focused on the contaminated layer below the oil sludge layer,

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88166*

*The Assessment Strategy for Selecting and Evaluating Geoenvironmental Remediation DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88166*

**Figure 2.** *The layers in the oil lake at the Burgan oil field in the State of Kuwait (13 Jan 2012).*

A thick oily sludge deposit has covered the affected areas with a thicker layer beneath, and oil has seeped through aided by gravity and rainfall [6, 7]. Besides this, the quality of oil has deteriorated caused by prolonged exposure to the extreme weather. The volatile hydrocarbons within the oil structure have been lost, and the oil has endured changes in its chemical and physical properties causing its sale not as lucrative. The nature of layers and the manner they are arranged provide indication of the category of contamination, the three contamination categories in **Figure 2**. Different sorts of oil-contaminated soils might not be differentiated using only the analytical results. For example, field investigation is vital to classify these contaminations, as they require various remediation methods to remediate or rehabilitate the contaminated site or options of land use; furthermore, varying physical characteristics are noticed during the investigation.

#### **3.3 Characterisation of oil lakes**

It is vital to evaluate the characteristics of Kuwait's oil-contaminated sands such as organic and inorganic material contents and soil particle size distributions in order to select the appropriate treatment method. All analytical methods were conducted at the University of Portsmouth, UK.

#### *3.3.1 Soil sampling*

The soil samples were collected from the Burgan oil field in the south of the Kuwaiti desert. The sample was collected from the edge of lake no. 105, in September 2011 (**Figure 3**). Firstly, the KOC and Ministry of Defence (MOD) checked for unexploded bombs and landmines, and then a hand shovel was used to remove about 3 cm of oily sludge from the soil surface. Then, after which heavily oil-contaminated soil (concentration of oil 35%) was collected at a depth of approximately 30 cm below the surface level of oily sludge. Subsequently, the samples were placed into plastic containers after being excavated from the soil with a shovel. This project has been focused on the contaminated layer below the oil sludge layer, meanwhile the sludge will be taken by the KOC for reuse.

*Geopolymers and Other Geosynthetics*

**3. Methods**

**3.1 Site investigation**

this survey can be summarised as:

• Classify the types of damage.

• Assess the level of contamination in the affected soil.

and treatment walls, or in mining applications [28–30]. Geomembranes have been employed and evaluated for the first time in the soil remediation area, as a layer for biopile method in the composite liner barrier system used for treating hydrocarboncontaminated soil [31]. Geomembranes have been used for a variety of applications during remediation of heavily contaminated sand with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hydrocarbons, and metal [32, 33]. They proposed to construct geomembranes in the landfill site as the base barrier system to filter and treat the contaminants from the spring thaw. This technique is required when contaminated soil or landfill needs to be isolated from the surrounding groundwater or ecological system to prevent the release of hazardous gases or liquids. Furthermore, Various advantage can be obtained by using geomembrane such as protecting people from contacting with hazards or reduce the impact of discharge water through the contaminated land

which allow to decrease in leachate of these hazardous to the groundwater.

Field investigation was formulated to recognise, manage, and remediate the oilcontaminated sand. As the first step, the concentration and type of contamination present ought to be determined in the Greater Al-Burqan oil field. The data from the investigation will be utilised to plan future rehabilitation works. As such, the aim of

• Provide information to assist in future land use planning and to determine remediation options using House of Quality (HOQ ) analysis system.

The selected approached was based upon the concepts of soil survey. The main parameters measured were the depth of contamination (by site measurement), TPH level (using gravimetric method), colour of the soil (using Munsell colour chart), and the texture of the soil. The site investigation categorises the oil-contaminated soil into four layers, namely, liquid oil, tar mat, oily soil, soot and clean soil with no contamination. For remediation the bulk of the contaminated soil to be dealt with has oily soil characteristics; also in some areas the oily soil placed under the liquid oil requires to be treated. In addition, all of these areas may contain unexploded ordnance (UXO). Any method for remediation of the tar mat and soot would need to take into account that they occur over an extensive area and form a thin layer on

It is evident from the field data in **Figure 2** that these layers of contaminated oil can be segregated based on their colour and property consistency. Typically, weathered crude oil is black, oily soil is dark brown to black with a moderate to slightly hard consistency, while the colour of tar mat is black with a hard stability. The depth of these oil lakes is 70 cm below the surface; therefore, the crude oil has penetrated the soil to different depths subject to the condition and characteristics of

**156**

the soil surface.

**3.2 Preliminary survey**

the soil belowground (**Figure 2**).

**Figure 3.** *Sample collection from Burgan Lake No. 105.*

**Figure 4.** *Particle size distribution on wet basis.*

### *3.3.2 Properties of oil lakes*

Soil properties are classified into two categories: chemical properties and physical properties. The soil samples were taken from the Burgan oil field to classify and analyse the physical properties according to the soil layers. The constant head permeability test were used to measure the soil permeability. These samples were considered as moderately permeable soil, with an average permeability rate of 0.064 mm/s having been recorded. Due to the presence of oil on the top layer, it prevented water from penetrating. Furthermore, mechanical sieve analysis (**Figure 4**) was carried out based on British Standards (BS 1377: Part 2:1990) [34] for wet sample to eliminate coarse fraction as well as to ensure homogeneity for the oil-contaminated soil. Chemical properties were investigated by determining TPH and measuring concentration of metal contents in Kuwaiti oil-contaminated sand.

As illustrated in **Table 2**, the results indicate the presence of some ions such as Ba, Cr, Fe, Ni, Pb, Cd, and Ag, as well as high concentration of TPH. The present preliminary study showed that with the high average value of electrical

**159**

*The Assessment Strategy for Selecting and Evaluating Geoenvironmental Remediation*

**Parameters Concentration of metals (mg/kg) KEPA limit (mg/kg)**

Barium (Ba) 0.78 10 Chromium (Cr) 0.52 5 Iron (Fe) 8.10 5 Nickel (Ni) 0.43 10 Lead (Pb) 0.70 5 Cadmium (Cd) 1.1 1 Silver Ag 0 5 TPH 367,234 10,000 pH 7.8 5.5–7.5

conductivity (EC) (2455 μS/cm), the existence of ions could be caused by using seawater to extinguish fires from oil well. Moreover, pH for the contaminated sample was found slight higher than the permissible level as shown in **Table 2**. For the purpose of selecting the most appropriate treatment method, the chemical and physical properties of the lake as well as unexploded ordnance, weathered soil, and

In carrying out decision-making process, a number of techniques could be utilised, for example, pairwise comparison chart, decision matrix, force field analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and HOQ. HOQ is used in this study among various available methods. This decision-making tool is considered as a simple decision mechanism with potential of implementation at various stages of advertising and product manufacturing. Function deployment instrument is required to develop the specifications into the product and organise customer requirements as well as enhance procedure of work. This decision-making tool needs to assign weight to each specification also; upon outlining personnel responsible for decision-making ought to outline weighted symbols among the progressions that constitute the interlink between the proposed processes and specifications and non-weighted symbols between the processes themselves. Towards the end, the sum of the product of the specified weight by the equivalent symbol weight is determined by calculating the accumulated score for each process. Moreover, HOQ provides assistance to engineers in focusing on specified needs and deciding on the best sequence in the case that the process goes ahead. Because of this, HOQ was employed for this project to incorporate the requirements of UNCC and KNFP and choose the best technique of

remediation method for which the remediation process will proceed.

Within this research, relationships were established between pre-set objectives outlined by UNCC and KNFP and various methods of remediation chosen by the team. In contrast to the numerical evaluation matrix, HOQ utilises symbols to demonstrate the relationship between objectives and alternatives in addition to the connection between alternatives themselves. In an effort to compare the proposed

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88166*

local conditions are taken into consideration.

*The concentration of metals during the washing of Kuwait oil residual [36].*

**Table 2.**

**4. Determination of remediation options**

**4.1 Establishing house of quality**


*The Assessment Strategy for Selecting and Evaluating Geoenvironmental Remediation DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88166*

**Table 2.**

*Geopolymers and Other Geosynthetics*

**158**

**Figure 4.**

**Figure 3.**

*Particle size distribution on wet basis.*

*Sample collection from Burgan Lake No. 105.*

Soil properties are classified into two categories: chemical properties and physical properties. The soil samples were taken from the Burgan oil field to classify and analyse the physical properties according to the soil layers. The constant head permeability test were used to measure the soil permeability. These samples were considered as moderately permeable soil, with an average permeability rate of 0.064 mm/s having been recorded. Due to the presence of oil on the top layer, it prevented water from penetrating. Furthermore, mechanical sieve analysis (**Figure 4**) was carried out based on British Standards (BS 1377: Part 2:1990) [34] for wet sample to eliminate coarse fraction as well as to ensure homogeneity for the oil-contaminated soil. Chemical properties were investigated by determining TPH and measuring concentration of metal contents in Kuwaiti oil-contaminated sand. As illustrated in **Table 2**, the results indicate the presence of some ions such as Ba, Cr, Fe, Ni, Pb, Cd, and Ag, as well as high concentration of TPH. The present preliminary study showed that with the high average value of electrical

*3.3.2 Properties of oil lakes*

*The concentration of metals during the washing of Kuwait oil residual [36].*

conductivity (EC) (2455 μS/cm), the existence of ions could be caused by using seawater to extinguish fires from oil well. Moreover, pH for the contaminated sample was found slight higher than the permissible level as shown in **Table 2**. For the purpose of selecting the most appropriate treatment method, the chemical and physical properties of the lake as well as unexploded ordnance, weathered soil, and local conditions are taken into consideration.
