Assessment of Physicochemical Parameters of Soils Contaminated with Petroleum from Eleme Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract— The study was conducted to examine the physicochemical parameters of soils contaminated with petroleum using nonpetroleum contaminated soil as control. Six petroleum contaminated soil samples from Eleme, Port Harcourt and one non petroleum contaminated soil sample from Awka were analyzed for pH, texture, moisture content, bulk density, total organic carbon, total organic nitrogen, total organic matter and total petroleum hydrocarbon. Some pH of the soil samples were acidic while others were alkaline and ranged from 5.26-7.84. The textural class of the petroleum contaminated soils (A-F) were silty clay loam while that of the non petroleum contaminated soil (G) was sandy loam implying that samples A-F are somewhat clayey and sample G almost sandy. Total moisture content of petroleum contaminated soils and their water holding capacity were higher than that of the control and fell in the ranges 0.50-40.56% and 13-29% respectively. Total organic carbon (TOC) and Total organic matter (TOM) of petroleum contaminated soils were higher than that of the non petroleum contaminated soil and were within the ranges 7.29-15.09% and 12.57-26.02% respectively. Total organic nitrogen result follow the same pattern with the non petroleum contaminated soil having the least value. The range was 0.365-0.755%. Bulk density results were within the range of 0.80-1.42g/cm³. The uncontaminated soil (G) had less amount of organic matter in it as a result, the bulk density was the highest (Olaitan and Lombin, 1984). The total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) content ranged from 107.5305-626.4060 mg/kg with that of the non petroleum contaminated soil being the least. The results indicated that petroleum contamination affected the physicochemical properties of the soils analyzed. Regular soil assessment is recommended so as to avert any ugly incidence which may occur.