what is the easiest way to lawfully remediate TPH contaminated soils?

Question

please provide details on rate of soil amendments, mulch/Carbon source, watering rate, and any other weather specific info. THANKS!

Answer 1

better safe than sorry..........just buy legal soil

Answer 2

The remediation of TPH impacted soils should be overseen by your state Department of Environmental Quality. They can tell you what your target levels are.

If you have had a release, and are preempting them by removing the source without their oversite, you could be in violation of various disclosure laws.

Depending on your concentrations, you may have hazardous material that needs to be treated in accordance with your state and federal laws.

That being said: TPH is a heavier constituent hydrocarbon and can be from various sources (waste oil/diesel). Unlike gasoline contaminated soils, TPH will not volatilize easy.

You do not want to water it down as this will generate TPH impacted water.

Your least expensive option would be to excavate the soil and dispose of it at a landfill. A landfill will require profile information about the soils to be removed.

You can add hydrogen peroxide or other compounds to stimulate bio remediation of soils. A company called Regenesis makes a compound that is good - but it will depend on the concentrations and origins of the TPH in the soil.

You can inject oxygen to stimulate bio remediation. This works if your soil is porous and not too tight.

Sunlight will abate some (if you landfarm it and turn the soil), but you will need to control your runoff as it will be contaminated too. Landfarming the soil will take years if there is alot of TPH.

A way to test the potential for landfarming is to take a shovelfull of soil, place it on a pan and put it into the oven at about 500 degrees for about 8 hours. If you have a significant drop in concentration (before vs after) you may be able to get by with it.

Answer 3

Unless the Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) contamination is very slight, there is no easy way to remediate the condition.

Part of the problem is that TPH is a term used to cover a very wide spectrum of chemical compounds. Small amounts of light weight TPH's can be removed by floating them upon water saturated soil and absorbing them with organic mulches or carbon (which is then burned in an appropriate incinerator or extracted).

This method does not work for dense TPH's which will form a deep sludge.

Each TPH site will require a slightly different remedy. In some cases the soil must be removed for treatment.