Evaluación de la contaminación del suelo por hidrocarburos en la comunidad Virgen del Carmen del cantón Joya de los Sachas provincia de Orellana

Abstract

Soil contamination caused by hydrocarbons is a latent problem and has extremely serious consequences on soil development. Therefore, the objective of this research was to evaluate the contamination of the soil by hydrocarbons in the Virgen del Carmen Community of Joya de los Sachas, Orellana Province, through the revision of primary and secondary sources as well as field trips, in order to propose a mitigation plan for the soil remediation. The methodology of the investigation was of field, documentary and experimental types. Bibliographic sources were used to obtain preliminary information, also for the physicochemical characterization was used the method of hydrometer and texture triangle, plasticity limit, Munsell table, multiparameter, pH meter, method of 1 N ammonium acetate at pH 7, and the loss on ignition method. Evaluation soil quality and remediation were carried out using Tables 1 and 2 of Annex-2 of TULSMA. For the remediation, the bioventing method was applied by means of a design experimental of two treatments and several repetitions. Likewise, by means of the analysis of variance Anova with a significance level of 0.05 at 95 % of confidence, it could be determined that treatment two contributed to the reduction of high concentration pollutants since it had long time exposure as well as partook in the regularization of the physicochemical processes of the soil.

Finally, it was concluded that the bioventing method is efficient with respect to the reduction of metal contaminants, alteration of the physicochemical properties and volatile compounds that were filtered in the soil. However, it is recommended to use microorganisms within the bioventing method in order to facilitate the degradation of the pollutant in an accelerated way so as to obtain better results.