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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
U.S. EPA Technology Innovation and Field Services Division

Phytotechnology Project Profiles

Phytoremediation at RTDF Site B in Ohio
Last Updated: December 2006
Site Information                                                      
Site Name, Location:   RTDF Site B, Southwestern, OH, United States
Site Type:   Petroleum Refining and Reuse
Is this a Federal
Superfund Site?
  No
Is this a Federal or
Military Site?
  No


Project Information                                                      
Project Name:   Phytoremediation at RTDF Site B in Ohio
Site History and Background:   This site was a land farm at a former petroleum refinery where tank bottoms from the refinery were placed for bioremediation. Source of contaminants are slop oil and API separator sludge.
Scale:   Pilot/Field Demonstration
Project Status:   Complete
Project Start Date:   April 1999
Project Completion Date:   December 2002
Media Treated:  
Media Qty. Geology Comments
Soil
Contaminants Treated:  
Contaminant Initial
Concentration
Depth Media Comments
Total petroleum hydrocarbons 13,836 mg/kg 15.0 cm Soil TPH (15 - 75 cm) - Average of 12,155 mg/kg
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) 64.4 mg/kg 75.0 cm Soil Total Priority PAHs (0 - 15 cm) - Average of 52.3 mg/kg
Phytotechnology Mechanism(s):   Phytostabilization
Rhizodegradation
Plants and other Vegetation Used:   Hybrid Poplar
Hackberry
Rye Grass
Legumes
Fescue
Willow
Planting Description:   Treatment 1: Perennial ryegrass and tall fescue plus goldenrod and orchardgrass in the later years Treatment 2: hackberry and cool-season grasses Treatment 3: willow, poplar, and cool-season grasses Treatment 4: unvegetated The first year after planting was a drought year, and there was low success of tree establishment. Willow and poplar trees were replanted in 2000.
Planting Area:   19,600 feet
Evapotranspiration Rates:   Not available
Climate:   Average temperature range - 20 to 86F; Mean annual precipitation - 41"; Growing season - 175 days; Average first frost - October 15; Average last frost - April 15
O & M Requirements:   Vegetated plots were fertilized. Unvegetated plot was weeded by hand.
Performance Data:   After the first drought year, vegetation growth was good with plant cover between 60 - 95%. However, there was no evidence that vegetation enhanced degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons at this site.
Cost of the Phytotechnology Project:   Not available
Lessons Learned:   Field tests of phytoremediation using weathered refinery source material are unlikely to result in clear treatment effects unless other measures are taken to manage the variability.
Comments:   Hackberry trees never established, so treatments 1 and 2 were essentially the same.

Point(s) of Contact                                                                      
    Peter Kulakow
Kansas State University
United States
Telephone: (785) 532-7239
E-mail: kulakow@ksu.edu

Information Source(s):   Kulakow, P. 2000. Annual Report of the RTDF Phytoremediation Action Team - TPH Subgroup Cooperative Field Trials.

Kulakow, P. 2006. Final Report - RTDF Phytoremediation Action Team TPH Subgroup: Cooperative Field Trials (draft).

 

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