Extensive Environmental Remediation Project in Romania Exceeds all Expectations
Nuremberg, Germany
October 2011
The former fuel storage site of OMV Petrom in Baneasa, district of Bucharest, closed in 2005 after 69 years of operation. The site which comprises approximately 20 hectares, was selected by OMV Petrom to establish its future central administration offices.
The long use as a fuel depot and the aerial bombardments during the Second World War had resulted in significant soil and groundwater contamination of the site.
In 2006 HPC AG was commissioned by Züblin Umwelttechnik GmbH, Stuttgart, to carry out an environmental investigation, to evaluate the soil and groundwater contamination and plan the remediation of the site. As predicted, during the investigation HPC AG found large areas of soil contamination from mineral oil products and free phase product was identified floating on groundwater at a thickness greater than 1metre in some parts of the site.
Comprehensive soil investigation and evaluation of groundwater contamination had not previously been practiced in Romania to such an extent and no national clean-up standards existed, it was, therefore, suggested that German standards were applied and that close collaboration with authority representatives was necessary.
The redevelopment concept included protection of the groundwater downstream by means of a hydraulic barrier, removal of the free phase product as far as possible, and decontamination of areas of contamination in the unsaturated soils.
The authorities agreed to this strategy and HPC AG was appointed to provide expert support for the duration of the project. The remediation was awarded to ZÜBLIN/STRABAG as general contractor in 2007 allowing the demolition at the site to commence.
By December 2009 the remediation targets regarding the oil phase removal were achieved, the scope of remediation for the unsaturated soil zone agreed upon was reached in June 2010, and the reduction of the pollutant concentrations in the groundwater achieved in September 2010.
The following images illustrate the scale of the clean up achieved.
210,000m3 of soil material was decontaminated microbiologically (on site) through ex-situ bio-remediation.
3,000,000m3 of groundwater was treated, including
2,000m3 of free phase product that was subsequently recycled.
Contamination extracted by groundwater treatment and local air sparging included:
- Approximately 9.6 tonnes of mineral oil hydrocarbons and about 1.1 tonnes of aromatic hydrocarbons (BTEX aromatics) from the groundwater
- Approximately 10 tonnes of volatile contaminants from the soil air-spaces
- Plus an additional 3 tonnes of contaminants by stimulated biodegradation
In December 2010 OMV Petrom opened the new administrative centre 'Petrom City' (providing approximately 100,000 m² of office space). The remaining area of the former fuel storage site will be developed over the coming years.
A successful redevelopment project of this scale is unusual by Romanian standards; considering the volume of the product phases recovered from the groundwater and the pollutant discharge.
The project success is based on the professional completion of the remediation by ZÜBLIN/STRABAG and the willingness of the Romanian authorities to "break new ground" all supported by HPC AG.
For further information on this project contact; Goetz Heckmann;
gheckmann@hpc-ag.de