Clean up of Oil-contaminated Soil
Grant AZ05-04

Historically the first full-scaled industrial oil-field development across the Absheron Peninsula of Azerbaijan was launched over 130 years ago. More than one billion tons of “black gold” has been extracted in this region since that time. However, the improper technology of oil production, transportation and refinery resulted in uncontrolled contamination of ground and water ecosystems. The offshore and onshore oil wells of Azerbaijan are mostly located at the vicinity of the Baku bay and the Absheron peninsula. A majority of the active and abandoned oil wells are continuously leaking in this region. According to the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), there are 30,000 hectares of oil polluted sites in Azerbaijan. In particular, the topsoil adjacent to the Baku business district has lost its vegetation coverage due to the oil spills. Oil products have a strong impact on all the elements of the ecosystem, which some include the ground water that ultimately brings pollutants into the coastal waters, the air and the nearby rivers. As the result, artificial oil–saturated lakes have been formed at the vicinity of these old on-shore oil fields (Binagadi, Surahany, Bibi-Eeybat) where the former fertile land once was covered by numerous vineyards and fig tree orchards. Various methods of clean up can be applied for different types of pollutions and for that a few billion dollars is needed.

In view of this, the oil clean up of man-made pollutions and particularly, topsoil clean up is one of the most important problems to be solved. This project aims to focus on elimination of pollutants in two hectares of land in the Absheron Peninsula. As a result, the state-of-the-art technologies and bio-products for the cleaning up of oil contaminated soils were used including Chemical Oxidation, Bioremediation, Solidification and Stabilization Methods. All of these activities were carried out under scientific parameters and the clean up process was checked through continuous monitoring. The success of the clean up process was determined by the reduction of 95-98% hydrocarbons content of the soil. The project results could be used in the framework of large-scaled pilot projects not only in Azerbaijan but also in other Caspian countries

Project Budget: 79,900 USD;  Total Grant: 39,900 USD;