Modelling the Transport of Crude Oil in Sandy Soil

The transport and retention of crude oil in sandy soil was studied. A full factorial experimental design with three independent variables, namely soil depth, contaminant volume and rainfall intensity, was used. The soil was artificially contaminated with varying crude oil volumes and rainfall simulation was performed in a mesocosm. The results obtained showed variations in the transport and retention of crude oil with the independent variables. The leached total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) concentrations decreased with increasing soil depth but increased with increasing contaminant volume and rainfall intensity. Contrarily, the retained TPH concentrations increased with increasing soil depth and contaminant volume but decreased with increasing rainfall intensity. Transport and retention models were developed and used to fit the transport and retention of crude oil in sandy soil after accidental release with correlation coefficient of 0.9407 and 0.9446 for the transport and retention model, respectively.