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Environmental effects of soil contamination by shale fuel oils

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Abstract

Estonia is currently one of the leading producers of shale oils in the world. Increased production, transportation and use of shale oils entail risks of environmental contamination. This paper studies the behaviour of two shale fuel oils (SFOs)—‘VKG D’ and ‘VKG sweet’—in different soil matrices under natural climatic conditions. Dynamics of SFOs’ hydrocarbons (C10–C40), 16 PAHs, and a number of soil heterotrophic bacteria in oil-spiked soils was investigated during the long-term (1 year) outdoor experiment. In parallel, toxicity of aqueous leachates of oil-spiked soils to aquatic organisms (crustaceans Daphnia magna and Thamnocephalus platyurus and marine bacteria Vibrio fischeri) and terrestrial plants (Sinapis alba and Hordeum vulgare) was evaluated. Our data showed that in temperate climate conditions, the degradation of SFOs in the oil-contaminated soils was very slow: after 1 year of treatment, the decrease of total hydrocarbons’ content in the soil did not exceed 25 %. In spite of the comparable chemical composition of the two studied SFOs, the VKG sweet posed higher hazard to the environment than the heavier fraction (VKG D) due to its higher mobility in the soil as well as higher toxicity to aquatic and terrestrial species. Our study demonstrated that the correlation between chemical parameters (such as total hydrocarbons or total PAHs) widely used for the evaluation of the soil pollution levels and corresponding toxicity to aquatic and terrestrial organisms was weak.

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Acknowledgments

This research is supported by the Central Baltic INTERREG IV A Finnish-Estonian project: Risk Management and Remediation of Chemical Accidents (RIMA), Estonian targeted funding project (IUT23-5), basic funding of the National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics and by the European Regional Development Fund project TERIKVANT. VKG Oil AS is acknowledged for providing the shale fuel oils.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology, National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Akadeemia tee 23, Tallinn, 12618, Estonia

    Liina Kanarbik, Irina Blinova, Mariliis Sihtmäe, Kai Künnis-Beres & Anne Kahru

  2. Department of Chemical and Materials Technology, Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate tee 5, Tallinn, 19086, Estonia

    Liina Kanarbik

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  1. Liina Kanarbik
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  2. Irina Blinova
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Correspondence to Irina Blinova.

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Responsible editor: Ester Heath

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Kanarbik, L., Blinova, I., Sihtmäe, M. et al. Environmental effects of soil contamination by shale fuel oils. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 11320–11330 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3043-0

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