Effectiveness of Air Sparging Technology in Remediation of Gaza Coastal Aquifer from Gasoline Products

Groundwater contamination becomes a great concern in many countries. One of the most important pollutants is hydrocarbons. Sources of Hydrocarbons pollutants in Gazacan be a result of accidental spills of petroleum products on the surface and uncontrolled disposal of wastewater. One of the common technologies for groundwater aquifer remediation from hydrocarbons is known as air sparging. In this study, a120 cm×100 cm×80 cmlaboratory scale aquifer model was implemented in order to investigate the effectiveness of air sparging technology in removal of petroleum products from contaminated site. Four pilot scale wells were installed at different depths and different spatial distribution. The central well was used for injecting air and the surrounding three wells were used for monitoring. The contaminated water and soil were tested for total organic carbon, lead, dissolved Oxygen and pH; one time before the start of treatment and four times through the treatment process. Total organic carbon in water and soil before air injection were 980 ppm and 0.08775 ppm, respectively. After air injection for three weeks (six hours daily) at flow rate range from 15 to20 L/min and at pressure range from 300 to 400 kPa, the concentration of pollutant was decreased to 4.0 ppm and 0.0 ppm in water and soil, respectively. Based on the results, it was clearly demonstrated that air sparging is a simple, effective and affordable technology that can be applied forGazaaquifer remediation in case of gasoline spill accidents.