Development of Predictive Model for Concentration Distribution of Crude Oil in Polluted Soil Medium

Abstract

This research deals with the development of predictive model for the concentration distribution of Nigerian crude oil in porous soil media. Three (3) different soil media were considered: sand, loam and clay. Oil spillage has been the most prominent source of ground water contamination, so, a model has been predicted to access the risk of ground water contamination by crude oil in Niger Delta regions. The migration of crude oil in the soil is only by diffusion and this enables us to predict a model of concentration distribution of naphthalene, benzene and toluene (NBT) using an approach called Buckingham’s π theorem. With the theorem, parameters that affect the migration of crude oil in the soil such as viscosity, density, porosity were considered. The predicted model results were compared with experimental results obtained from literature and it showed reasonable agreement. Simulations of different components with different soil types (sand, clay and loam) were performed and it showed that sand has the highest porosity followed by loam and least in clay. In all, Benzene shows the highest effect on the depth of soil followed by the double ringed naphthalene.