THE EFFECT OF NPK AND UREA ON THE BIO REMEDIATION OF CRUDE OIL CONTAMINATED WATER
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1Â Â Â Â Background of study
For many years now and many more years to come, the aquatic environment have served (and will continual to serve) as a stable habitat to various species of plant and animals ranging from the micro-cellular zooplankton to the more complex species of fishes and birds. Over the year a natural resource (crude oil) has been found present both on land and on sea. In Nigeria alone there are about 606 oil fields in the Niger Delta, of which 360 are on-shore and 246 off-shore (Nwilo and Badejo, 2005). Boasting herself as the largest oil producing country in Africa and sixth in the world.
This precious natural resources initially was used as a means of illumination and lubrication of machine parts against friction but ever since the invention of the automobile industry and the internal combustion energy, the demand for this product has increased rapidly. Currently, there are many challenges associated with the transportation, stockpiling, distribution and production of this raw materials and its various fractions. In an attempt to make this commodity reading available for usage, various pollution activities has sufficed ranging from the contamination of both water and soil environment either by deliberate vandalizing of oil pipeline used for the transport of crude oil, to the fallout of ships transporting crude oil from an on-shore to the jetty thereby creating an unbalanced and stressed aquatic environment.
The effects of this pollution includes, decreasing the population of aquatic wildlife , making the water environment unsuitable for domestic and commercial purpose, also the reduction on the availability of oxygen necessary for growth thus causing death, and the evaporation of high volatile fraction thus making the site a potential fire outbreak area. Various clean-up method like the application of chemical dispersants and controlled burning serves but with little effectiveness as the atmosphere becomes heavily polluted as in the case of burning and an increase in greenhouse gases (GHG) also harms the climate. Also by introducing chemical dispersants the toxicity of the environment is increased even though the spill is treated, it ‘in returns’ pollutes the environment.
